Distant memories
by Sunechirei
Summary: Four years ago, Mikan lost her memory and her alices. Now, the first thing she remembers is a raven haired boy. When a freak accident causes her to be re-enrolled in Gakuen Alice, she is determined to find the boy.
1. Chapter 1

Hello mates! I have decided that I want to revise my fanfic as my writing style has changed quite a bit. The story itself will not change but I will be adding more and making it less confusing. I will be slowly add each revised chapter once I have it completed so please bear with me. After that I will continue the story from where I left off. So anyway, please enjoy the new and improved chapter 1 of Distant Memories and as always, please review.

Disclaimer: I could only own Gakuen Alice and all of their corresponding characters in my dreams. Oh how I wish...

Also, I'm now going to put the name of the person who's POV it is because I've found it's really annoying when people don't do that so...

~Sunechirei

* * *

Mikan

_Hysteric sobs echoed through out the dimly lit room. The girl from which they came from was curled into a ball against the stone wall, shaking madly from cold, and from fear. _

_ Her brown hair hung unevenly from her head, some locks reaching halfway down her back, and others not even coming to her shoulders. Cuts crusted brown with dried blood, and dark purple bruises covered the majority of her showing skin. The uniform she wore was dirty, ripped and burned._

_ Suddenly the room grew brighter and heat flooded the child's frozen form. _

_ She lifted her head, revealing hazel eyes that were stained red from her tears. Her eyes widened in terror when she saw what had entered the room._

_ It was a boy. He seemed to be the same age as the girl, He had raven black hair and wore a male version of the child's uniform. A flame floated above his left hand, which was covered in cuts._

_ But the girl paid no attention to those details. All she notices were his eyes. His blood red eyes._

_ The girl screamed.

* * *

_

Mikan shot up in bed, her breathing labored, the dream still fresh in her mind. No... not a dream. A memory. Her first memory.

The door to her room creaked open quietly. A man entered, a questioning look on his face. This was Shiki. He was a friend of Mikan's mom, Yuka.

"I heard you scream is everything all right?" he asked.

Mikan nodded, "It was just a bad dream." she answered him quietly.

Shiki gave a concerned look before exiting the room. When the door had shut, Mikan let out a sigh of relief. She had never told anyone about her memory, and her plan was to keep it a secret for a long as she could.

Groaning, she stood and headed to the mirror, her thoughts trailing to the raven-haired boy. It had been four years since that situation and no matter how hard she tried, she could recall nothing else about him.

She stood in front of the mirror, frustration building inside of her.

Her hazel eyes stared back, framed by the long brown hair that Mikan was very proud of. She had grown it out over the years and it now reached her mid back, though it was almost never down.

Glancing down at the beauty products in front of her she recalled the events that had made her become a popular girl in her school.

When she first entered school, she knew nothing about her previous life, nothing about her personality before. Riddled with fear of the other students, she shied away into her studies, soon reaching the top of the school and being noticed by the others.

It wasn't long after that she made friends and gained confidence, reaching the top of the social pyramid.

She sighed once again and finished dressing. It wasn't long before her thoughts returned to the mystery boy.

_ I shouldn't be afraid of him_, she thought, _he _did _save me._

As much as she tried to convince herself that this was true, she actually didn't know what part the boy played in her rescue, and the fear raged on.

After she was finished getting ready for the day, she left her room and headed into the kitchen. Her rumbling stomach reminded her that food was necessary to survive and she opened the fridge and grabbed a small piece of fruit to snack on.

Satisfied, she glanced at the clock and noticed that she was running late and dashed out the door.

The crisp, chilly air signified that fall was well on it's way, turning the leaves into festive colors and signifying the start of a new semester.

Mikan hurried through the somewhat busy streets of Tokyo, heading to the house of her friend. The two were working on the summer homework together and she couldn't afford to be any later than she already was.

Though it was the fourth year that Mikan had lived in the busy city of Tokyo, walking alone scared her to no end. A part of that fear came from the crimes that occurred, but mainly it was the school that lined one of the largest suburban streets.

Gakuen Alice.

A school so prestigious only children with permission from the government were allowed to attend. People called it the genius school. A place where the next leaders of the nation would be schooled.

This was a lie. Every child who attended that school was called an alice, a person with special powers. Mikan had once attended that school, or so she was told, but after her memory loss, she was transferred to a regular school. Whenever Mikan passed by the school she felt as though someone were watching her, waiting for something to happen.

It was unnerving.

Unfortunately, the fastest way to her friends house was to go by it.

It wasn't long before she had to pass the long wall that kept intruders out of the school, and students in. Sucking in a large breath, Mikan began to walk again, stepping in front of the wall.

Almost instantly a large explosion occurred, sending large pieces of concrete raining down on Mikan.

She stumbled backwards, attempting to shield her head from the dangerous material.

Coughing, Mikan lowered her arms, only to be crashed into by a small body. Instinctively, Mikan grabbed the person by the wrists, keeping them from escaping. When the dust finally cleared, she gasped in shock.

The perpetrator was a young boy, around the age of seven, with brown hair and cloudy gray eyes. His eyes narrowed into a glare as he attempted to get away, but Mikan held fast.

Footsteps distracted Mikan from the boy and she looked up. Two men were running towards the two, breathing heavily and looking panicked.

"Youichi! Don't hurt her!" One of the men exclaimed. The boy struggled harder to get away.

Mikan looked down at the boy again. He was obviously trying to escape from the school, but he was not using his alice. Mikan was confused about this.

_If he uses his alice, it's possible he could be gone by now. Why doesn't he use it?_

Little did Mikan know, he was trying.

* * *

Natsume

Natsume Hyuuga. So many people would describe him in many different ways. Some considered him to be a good friend, others swooned over his looks and cold attitude, and others still would be happy if Natsume disappeared from this world. However, right now, the only word that could describe this boy was bored.

He slouched in his seat, headphones in his ears and a book of manga on his face. Next to him sat his best friend, Ruka Nogi. A blonde haired blue eyed teenager with a small white rabbit sitting quietly on his lap.

Coughing quietly, Natsume began to wonder if anything interesting was going to happen today. He figured that if nothing was going to happen then he might as well leave the classroom and hang out in the forest. He had so much free time, ever since Persona had pulled him off of his missions.

This was frustrating for Natsume, as he used these missions as an excuse to forget about _her_...

The classroom was deafening. The teacher had yet to show up and the students were having fun using their alices and destroying everything in sight.

"Why don't they just shut up?" Natsume asked irritably.

Ruka glanced at his best friend, ready to respond when two girls came up to them.

"Um... Natsume, Ruka, would you like to go to Central Town with us tomorrow?" one of them asked shyly.

Natsume looked up at them, the manga falling off his face, revealing sharp crimson eyes.

"Uh... um... uh," the other girl stammered, looking down, blushing slightly.

"What are you doing," a sharp, bossy voice screeched behind them. Both girls stiffened as Sumire glared at them. The two girls turned and were gone in an instant. No one wanted to feel the wrath of Sumire Shoda.

The raven haired boy picked up his book and began reading it again. He felt Sumire's sad eye's looking at him before she left.

"We're never going to see _her_ again are we?" Ruka asked in a small voice.

After a long silence Natsume glanced out the window. "Probably not." he whispered, "Probably not."

It wasn't until Monday that Natsume got the surprise he had been wishing for.

The door to the class burst open, startling all of the students in the room. A man walked in with a pretentious strut. He wore a very feminine outfit, a sight that could scare the elementary students. This man was Anju Narumi.

Silence filled the room at once. Narumi was notorious for using his pheromone alice when students didn't behave correctly. He normally didn't show up in the high school section as he preferred to teach elementary students.

"What is he doing here?" Ruka asked quietly. Natsume just shrugged and leaned back in his seat.

"Hello everyone!" Narumi exclaimed happily. "For some strange reason your teacher has disappeared so I will be taking over this class! Kay?" he smiled happily while all of the students groaned.

Natsume involuntarily shivered.

"Anyway, the first order of business, hmmm... lets see... oh right! Tomorrow there will be a new student in this class." the new teacher continued.

The class erupted with questions. It was rare to get a new student, especially in high school.

"Why are you telling us now?"

"Yeah why didn't you wait for that person to be here so that you can introduce us?"

Narumi smile turned sad, "Because most of you already know this person, but she doesn't remember any of you."

Immediately Natsume sat up in his seat, his eyes wide.

A quiet girl with black hair and amethyst eyes stood angrily.

"Why is Mikan coming back here. Didn't her alices disappear?" she asked icily, her voice so quiet it was barely audible.

"Well, yes... Imai, they did but well after a little accident with a student yesterday, it seems that they have returned and she is..."

That was all Natsume could take. He stood up and angrily stormed out of the room. Behind him, he heard the class go into an uproar, and Ruka's footsteps as he followed Natsume..

"Na-Natsume, where are you going?" he asked hesitantly.

"To talk to the Elementary Principal," Natsume replied, his voice dripping with anger. Ruka grabbed his arm to stop him.

"No... you can't. You and Sakura will just get into trouble!"

"I don't care! Let _go_ of me!"

"No! Nothing you say will change their minds!"

Natsume finally pulled his arm out of Ruka's grasp, but stayed put.

"Don't you want to see her again?" Ruka asked. "Do you hate her now?"

Natsume flinched, "I... no... no of course I want to see her, but... she can't come back here." he paused to cough. "She can't come back. They'll hurt her again, and I... I don't know what I'll do if that happens."

He looked away, his raven black hair covering his eyes.

Ruka watched him sadly.

After a while, Natsume turned and walked way.

"Na-"

"It's okay," Natsume interrupted, "I just need to be alone for a while."

Ruka nodded and went back to face the class.

While he walked, the memories of that night four years ago played in his mind.

* * *

_It had been several days since Mikan had gone missing. _

_ Hotaru, Ruka, Tsubasa and many of the other students had a plan to try and find her. Natsume wished to join them but Persona seemed to want him as busy as possible. _

_ "There are intruders in the area; you are to find them. When you do, get rid of them anyway you can." he had told Natsume in his cold voice. _

_ Upset at this notion, Natsume tried to protest but was stopped by the feeling that the elementary principal was behind this. He figured that if he tried anything, something horrible would happen to Mikan._

_ Reluctantly, he headed off on his mission. _

_ As he ran through the forest in pursuit of the intruders, he tripped over a large crack in the ground. Cursing loudly he stood again and examined the fissure. It seemed to be more than just a natural nuisance so he followed the crack. It led to a strange hole that was too large to belong to an animal._

_ '_This is strange._' he thought as he slipped quietly into the hole. Landing on solid ground, he glanced around, only to find darkness. He lit a small fire in his palm. The fire showed a tunnel leading south. Curious, Natsume began to follow it._

_ After what seemed like forever, Natsume came to a stop in front of a door. He put his hand on it and it opened slowly. As he entered, light flooded a small, cold room._

_He gasped when he saw what it contained. _

_ Mikan._

_ She was sitting against the far wall, hugging her knees tightly and shaking hard enough to rock her entire body. Natsume took a step towards her and she looked up at him. She looked terrible. Her hair, normally in two ponytails, was cut very ruggedly in all different lengths. Cuts and bruises covered her body, and her clothes were a torn and seemed to hang off of her small frame._

_ And then there were her eyes. They were wide with fear, and pain. It was absolutely heartbreaking. After a few moments, Mikan let out a bloodcurdling scream. _

_ "Mikan..." Natsume called, but his call was drowned out by the scream. She held her hands in front of her face._

_ He knelt down in front of her and tried to calm her down. The fact that she was terrified of him scared Natsume. Desperate to stop the screaming, he grabbed her wounded wrists and pulled her into a standing position._

_ She struggled to get away, twisting wildly and attempting to pull her wrist out of Natsume's grasp._

_ '_She is to weak to even make a difference._' Natsume observed._

_ Scared himself, Natsume pulled Mikan into a tight hug. After a while, Mikan stopped screaming and had started sobbing uncontrollably. He tightened his grip slightly and Mikan clutched his shirt. It was a while before she stopped crying and Natsume noticed that she had fallen asleep and only he was supporting her._

_ Natsume picked her up._

_ "What happened to her?" he wondered aloud, "She's so light." he carried Mikan out of the terrible prison that had held her._

_ When he reached the opening, Natsume quickly walked out of the forest and ran into Narumi. The teacher gasped when he saw Mikan and tried to take her from Natsume. He wouldn't let go of her. _

_ At once, Narumi understood. Natsume didn't want to be separated from Mikan for as long as possible. "Come with me." he said and led him towards the hospital._

_ When they got there, Natsume gave Mikan to Narumi. He watched her sadly. When a doctor came out, he ran into the forest. He wanted get away from the hospital as quickly as possible. _

_ "Why did it have to be Mikan!" he yelled angrily, "Why her!" He tripped over a root and fell in front of a sakura tree. He sat up and began pounding the ground with his fists. Finally, he calmed down. He crawled over to the trunk and leaned against it, exhausted. _

_ As he sat there, he remembered everything about Mikan. The first moment he met her, when she saved him from Reo, dancing with her at the Christmas party, to running away from the Elementary Principal. He didn't leave the tree until morning._


	2. Chapter 2

So here is chapter 2 of the ultimate revise. That's what I have decided to call it. Weird, I know. So anyway it is very different from the original chapter. For instance, it doesn't start out with a memory flash and the way the Yuka finds out about Mikan leaving is different. So anyway, I hope you enjoy and please review. Thanks!

~Sunechirei

* * *

Mikan

"What!" Yuka exclaimed when Mikan told her about what happened.

"Apparently my alices have come back. I don't know why or, how, but I really want to attend the school." Mikan explained for the millionth time.

"Oh no. No way. There is no way that you are going back there."

"And why not?"

"Because they just want to use you!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"They did it to me, they did it four years ago and they will do it again!"

Mikan opened her mouth to argue but then thought about what her mother had said.

"You... you went to that school?" she asked quietly. Yuka stepped back in shock. Looking ashamed she nodded. "You also went to that school, and you never told me? Why?"

Yuka said nothing but turned and began to fuss in the kitchen. From the table Mikan clenched her fist.

"I'm going. And you are not going to stop me."

Mikan dashed out of the room, hurt that her own mother hadn't told her the truth. She ran into her room and began throwing somethings into her back pack.

It was only yesterday that the little boy had destroyed the wall, leading to the rediscovery of Mikan's alices. One of the men seemed to know her and told her that she should come back to that spot in two days to meet with him again. That's what she planned to do.

Lying on her bed, Mikan pondered what would be happening the next day. She remembered almost nothing about the school, but she had to go, no matter what. She had to find the boy who had saved her.

* * *

Mikan sat nervously on a large couch waiting for someone to come and get her. The rendezvous had gone well and Mikan was very excited that she had finally made it to her destination. She had not said anything to her mother that morning. She was beginning to regret that decision, but shook her head at the sign of guilt.

Her attention was caught by the loud bang of the door opening. Mikan stood, hoping that the man who had entered would be nice.

"Hello!" he exclaimed. "I am your new homeroom teacher, Narumi. I hope that we will get along."

Mikan bowed respectfully. "Hello. I am Mikan Sakura. It will be a pleasure to be your student. Narumi blinked and smiled.

"Here is your uniform." he said holding out bag. "I'll wait outside so you can change. Please come out when you are done." Mikan nodded and took the bag. The man left.

Mikan glanced into the bag at the clothing. It looked as though it were the uniform of a rich kids school, though Gakuen Alice was obviously not one. Mikan pulled the clothing out piece by piece, trying to ignore the splitting headache that had started not long after she had grabbed the bad. Something seemed to be tugging at her mind... a memory.

Mikan closed her eyes as the broken up memory overloaded her conscience. She saw herself in the room, being pinned to the couch by someone, a cat mask on the table next to the couch, a blonde boy crashing through the window, and a boy saying, "See ya, polka-dot panties."

Mikan stumbled blindly in surprise.

"Wha... what was that..." she blurted out. She glanced around again, scared that there was something wrong with her. When nothing happened, she sighed and got changed.

She exited the room and Narumi smiled at her.

"Come with me... it's time for you to meet your classmates."

* * *

Natsume

"... here."

Natsume opened his eyes and looked at Ruka. "What did you say?" he asked groggily. Ruka had awoken him.

"Naru's here!" he replied rolling his eyes. "You know, for someone so eager to see Mikan again, you sure fall asleep quickly." he teased, "Pay more attention."

Natsume sat up quickly. He glared at Ruka for his irritating comment before turning to the front of the room to listen to what was going on.

Narumi stood at the center of the front, his eyes sparking with excitement. "Alrighty then..." he began, "Heeere's Mikan Sakura!"

the door opened and a total stranger walked into the room.

Brunette locks of hair spilled out of a high ponytail that sat perfectly in the back of her head. Her bangs framed her face perfectly, showing off her wide chocolate eyes. She stood tall in front of the class, her eyes scanning the room quickly, almost as if she were looking for someone.

In short, she was beautiful.

"Hey, we should totally ask her out." Natsume heard a boy say to his friend. He clenched his fist in frustration.

A sweet voice from the front of the room interrupted Natsume's thoughts.

"Hello everyone. I am Mikan Sakura and I hope to be friends with all of you soon." she hesitated, her eyes scanning the room again. This time Natsume was certain she was looking for someone.

Then her eyes met his.

* * *

Mikan

Mikan instantly recognized the cold ruby eyes that watched her intensely from the back of the room. It was the same look that had made her scream every night when she was a child, the look that had terrified her into solitude for a year.

It was Him.

The boy from her memory, the one that had saved her. She had gotten her wish.

"And what great alice does she posses?" a voice snapped from somewhere in the room. Mikan's broke away from the boy's, her head turning towards the sound of the voice.

Narumi broke into a foolish grin. "She has two alices." he explained. "The first, nullification, an extremely rare alice, and the second... well if Sakura wants you to know she can tell you. "

This statement caused an uproar of questions.

"What class are you in?"

"What's your star rank?"

"Can you show us your alices?"

It was like a pack of hungry hyenas, ravenous for something, anything.

Mikan glanced at Narumi who gave a small nod. Mikan took a deep breath and began.

"I don't really understand how this works, but the teachers have decided to give me a special star rank and put me in the dangerous abilities class."

No one spoke. Mikan shyed away, fearing that she would be hated for these two things, though the reason why was not quite clear.

It seemed like forever before a sound was heard from the class again, but they spoke only in whispers, too quietly for Mikan to understand. Feeling scared, she glanced up at the back of the class room, towards the guy with crimson eyes.

He was still watching her intently, but there was pain and frustration in his eyes. Mikan wondered why.

* * *

Natsume

"Why is she in the dangerous class?" Natsume hissed between clenched teeth. His fist was in a tight ball under the table and his eyes flamed with anger. Ruka leaned closer to his friend.

"What are you going to do, Natsume?" he looked worried. Natsume held his tongue, ignoring his friend. From the front of the room, Narumi was looking around nervously.

"Well, as you know, new students know nothing about this school." he let our a nervous laugh. "So about her partner... any volunteers?"

Almost instantly the hands of most of the boys were raised, causing protests from the other girls in the class. Natsume eyed them angrily but continued to say nothing. He glanced in the direction of Hotaru, hoping that she would do something.

Much to his distaste, there was an evil glint in her eye as she stared back at Natsume. Standing she turned towards the front of the room.

"I think it would be best if I was her partner," she said in a sickly sweet voice. "All of the other volunteers are boys and I think Sakura would feel more comfortable if a girl showed her around."

Natsume wasn't surprised by the actions of his classmates. Most of them had never seen how much Hotaru cared for Mikan, though this seemed to be out of line. Even Narumi seemed surprised at her statement.

"A-alright... I guess that makes sense." he eyed her suspiciously before continuing. "Well then, Hotaru Imai is going to be your partner Sakura, so please go sit by her.

Natsume glanced back at Hotaru. She grinned at him.

'You owe me.' she mouthed and little money signs flashed in her violet eyes.

"Well now that that's settled," Narumi said as Mikan walked up to her seat, " I'm going to let you guys have some free time. 'Kay?" He turned to exit the room when the door opened.

A tall man with dark hair and eyes entered the room looking amused.

The class went silent.

"Hello Persona, do you need anything?" Narumi asked, seeming oblivious to the atmosphere that the man in front of him put off. Persona smiled coldly.

"I just need to talk to Natsume." he replied in his icy voice.

Natsume felt shivers travel down his spine as Persona looked at him and beckoned for Natsume to follow.

With a terrible feeling in his gut, Natsume stood up and followed the man out of the classroom.

"What do you want." he asked coldly, attempting to mask the fear in his voice. The amusement was instantly wiped off of Persona's face. He looked at Natsume with hate in his eyes.

"I'm here to warn you. You had better be careful around that new 'kitten' as the Principal's do not want you hanging around her again." he hissed.

"And what if I do hang around her?" Natsume inquired.

Persona grinned, "Just remember what happened four years ago." Persona's threat lingered in Natsume's mind.

"You... you guys..."

"Ask no more questions." he began to walk away. "Oh and by the way, you have a new mission. Right now."

Natsume could swear he heard the gods of irony laughing at him at this moment. Nothing had gone right today.

Nothing.

* * *

Mikan

"Natsume huh..." Mikan muttered under her breath, hoping no one else would hear her. She had found out the name of the boy, now all she needed to do was talk to him.

She figured that waiting for him to come back would get tiring so she turned to her partner.

"Hello, Imai..." Mikan began to say before she was rudely interrupted by Hotaru.

"Cut with the formalities Mikan. I know you don't remember this but I was your best friend. You can just call me Hotaru." the girl said bluntly. Mikan stared at her in surprise.

"Um... okay, Hotaru..."

The girl smiled at her causing Mikan to marvel at her beauty. Her midnight black hair perfectly accented the amused amethyst eyes that were framed by a pale face. Mikan smiled back and the girl's attitude suddenly changed.

Hotaru sighed. "Well, I guess I should show you around." she grumbled and stood up, beckoning to Mikan to do the same. Almost instantly, three boys showed up, appearing to Mikan out of thin air.

"Hey, Mikan, watcha' doin' later tonight." one of them asked mischievously.

"Yeah if your not doin' anything, why not come hang with us..."

_Baka! Baka! Baka!_

Strange puffs of air flew past Mikan and hit the boys that had surrounded her. They went flying back like they were as light as air. Behind Mikan Hotaru was holding a pistol by the side of her head, a fear casting gaze resting on the unconscious boy in front of her.

"Don't ever try to flirt with Mikan you freaks." she said calmly, blowing a wisp of smoke away from her strange gun. "Unless you are willing to pay me ¥400,000."

"Wait, what!" Mikan protested loudly, aware that all eyes were on her.

"It's a way to make money." Hotaru said without looking at Mikan. She sat down again and pulled out food that she began to eat. Everyone around the two girls gave Hotaru strange looks.

"You'll have to ignore Imai." a soft, kind voice said behind them, "She is always looking for a way to make money." Mikan looked behind her and saw the boy that was sitting next to Natsume.

Kind blue eyes were watching Mikan as his arms wrapped around a small white rabbit that sat on his lap.

"My name is Ruka Nogi." he said. "It's nice to meet you Sakura."

Mikan smiled at Ruka. "Thank you." she said sweetly causing the boy's face to turn pink. Mikan heard a camera click behind her and Ruka's eyes widened.

"Imai!" he wailed. Hotaru grinned and ran out of the room, Ruka following close behind her.

"What in the world was that?" Mikan asked, confused. A girl laughed behind her.

"Imai is always taking picture of Ruka to sell." she explained. "They are quite popular." she smiled and held out her hand as if she were about to introduce herself. She didn't have to, however as someone else did it for her.

"Hey Sumire! Why are you being nice to that bitch!" that someone called. "Can't you see that she is going to try and take Natsume from us all?"

Mikan looked around with confusion. There were so many questions running trough her head.

Who had just said that? Why did the girls seem to hate her so much? Why would she steal Natsume? Why wasn't Sumire allowed to talk to Mikan, and did they just say what Mikan thought they said?

Before Sumire could reply, Mikan turned to the group of giggling girls.

"Why would you think I would want to go out with this Natsume fellow. I don't even know who he is." Mikan retorted. By this time, Ruka and Hotaru had returned and the whole class was watching Mikan.

A girl, who Mikan guessed was the leader of the group, scoffed. "Yeah right, you were staring at him the whole time you were being introduced."

Mikan flinched slightly, not wanting to reveal the real reason for her fascination.

"Oh you mean him... I think he is a total jerk who needs to not slack off in class. And whats with getting pulled out by that creepy guy. He probably gets in trouble a lot. Not my type at all." Mikan glared at the girl threateningly.

They girl was about to reply but her friend whispered something in her ear. She sniffed angrily and stormed off. Mikan turned around to find Ruka, Hotaru, and Sumire staring at her, dumbfounded.

"Wow..." Hotaru began, "you've changed."


	3. Chapter 3

Well it's taken me forever but I finally have chapter three revised! Took me forever as I worked on two other projects, the Silent Abuse Rewrite and Don't Jump, both of which are extremely depressing... but yeah.

So please enjoy my revise of chapter 3 and please please please please please review. It's not hard. Just press the little button on the bottom of the screen and write something. You don't even have to be logged in... Please? ( I sound so desperate)

~Sunechirei

* * *

Unknown

_Somewhere in the ghettos of Tokyo, a cloaked figure was muttering incoherently. Somewhere in the distance, someone screamed and the person turned around quickly. Their hood fell off revealing the face of a young woman in her late twenties. She had waist length, silver hair, and her eyes were covered by a pair of black sunglasses. _

_ The street lamps towered above her, giving off just enough light so that she could see where she was going. _

_ When all was silent again, she began to walk briskly into an alley. Suddenly, she heard the footsteps of her pursuers. _

_ "There she is!" one of them yelled. The women broke out into a run, her footsteps echoing around the maze of back-streets. A loud shot cracked from behind her. A bullet flew past her, barely grazing her skin. Red blood trickled down her cheek, but she ignored it and continued running. _

_ "Stop where you are!" a man yelled, not far behind. When the woman didn't comply, he said, "Then you give me no choice." He pulled out his gun and aimed at her. _

_ Before the woman could hear the sound of the gun firing, she felt the pain of the lead bullet digging into her side. _

_ She collapsed as she clutched her torso, blood covering her hands. Using all of her willpower, she stifled a scream before she fell unconscious. The two men caught up with her. One crouched beside her to make sure she wasn't dead, while the other took out a phone and dialed a number_

_ "Mission complete, the target has been taken into custody." he said.  
"Excellent work." an icy voice said on the other line, "Come back to head quarters immediately."

* * *

_

Mikan_  
_

There was a loud bang on Mikan's door, startling her into a half awake state. With an irritated look on her face, she glanced at the clock

4:30... she thought fuzzily, great.

She let out a groan and covered her head with her soft pillow. Eventually the knocking stopped. Mikan sighed with relief, then the door blasted open with an explosion that probably woke up the entire dorm. Mikan sat up in bed and glared at the intruder.

_Baka! Baka! Baka!_

It was Hotaru, of course. Mikan rolled over in an attempt to dodge her dangerous baka gun, but ended up falling off the bed instead. Hotaru heaved a sigh.

"You really are an idiot, Mikan." she stated calmly. Mikan sat up and glared at her.

"I'm the idiot! Your the one breaking into my room at frikin' four-thirty in the morning! What the hell is wrong with you!" the brunette scream-whispered. Hotaru just rolled her eyes. Mikan exhaustively climbed back into her queen-sized bed, wishing for the warm comfort of her blankets. "What do you want?" Mikan asked irritably.

Hotaru sighed and sat down at the edge of Mikan's bed, pushing a lock of her black hair out of her eyes, though she said nothing.

"Hello?" Mikan chided irritably. It was too early for her to deal with this kind of nonsense.

"This is the only efficient time I can talk to you." Hotaru finally replied. Mikan looked at her exasperated. "During the day there was always someone watching you." she explained, "I couldn't figure out who it was but I need to talk to you privately."

"And this person, they aren't watching me now? Also, how do you know this stuff?

"Because I have instruments that can tell me these things and no, they aren't watching you."

Mikan considered this. "Okay, I guess, what do you need."

"What about your past do you remember." Hotaru asked.

Mikan just stared at her, dumbfounded, then looked down and thought of the last time she had tried to remember anything that had happened more than four years ago.

"I don't remember anything." Mikan said shrugging. "And when I try to remember my body acts weird and I tend to faint."

"Well then what is the first thing you do remember." Hotaru pressed.

Mikan refused to tell her, shaking her head furiously. Hotaru glared at Mikan suspiciously but didn't push for information.

"Well it's really early, try to get some more sleep." Hotaru said.

"I was asleep until you came blasting into my room..." Mikan muttered lying back down. Hotaru rolled her eyes again and exited the room, leaving Mikan to finally sleep again.

* * *

The sleep had come easily to Mikan, but heading to class that day was a much greater challenge. There were so many girls calling her names, laughing at her and doing what ever they could to make Mikan's day miserable.

Finally, she made it to the classroom, her clothes ruffled and self a steam getting lower by the minute.

She wrenched open the door, hoping to get some peace but was annoyed to see that quite a few students had already made it to the classroom. Mikan groaned and leaned against the door frame. She didn't understand what was going on, but she wanted to know.

"Ah, Mikan!" someone called from inside the crowded room. Mikan looked up to see a pink-haired girl standing in front of her, a smile plastered on her face. It was Anna, a girl that had become fast friends with Mikan. "So, how was your first night here?"

Mikan forced a smile. "It was fine, thanks." Anna smiled, her eyes shut tight as her friend, Nonoko, walked up to them. It seemed as though both of these girls knew Mikan beforehand.

"Hey, Mikan, there are a lot of people, well, glaring at you. Why is that?" Nonoko asked as they walked to Mikan's desk.

"If I knew I would tell you..." Mikan muttered. Anna and Nonoko exchanged glances.

"I have a feeling it's Kokori." Nonoko began, "It seems to me that she hates you. Did you do something to her?"

"No. I don't even really know who she is."

"Well you better figure it out before something really bad happens to you." A tired voice said suddenly. Mikan jumped and turned to witness Hotaru lay her head on the table in front of her. "I wonder what's eating Nogi." she muttered dreamily.

Mikan looked around to see what her friend was talking about and spotted a sullen Ruka sitting next to Sumire.

"I'm sure he is fine Ruka." Sumire said kindly, one of her hands laying comfortingly on Ruka's shoulder. It didn't seem to help at all. Intrigued, Mikan stood and headed over to the two of them.

"What's wrong, Ruka?"

The boy looked up at her revealing his dark eyes. It was obvious he hadn't slept.

"Oh hey Sakura. It's my friend, Natsume... he's been missing since yesterday"

"What did you just say!" a girl nearby asked. She rushed over to Ruka, closely followed by the other girls in the class and they pushed Mikan out of the way. Hotaru walked up, a curious look on her tired face.

" So, what was that all about?" She asked in a hushed voice.

"Apparently that Natsume kid has gone missing." Mikan replied, a little peeved at the idiotic headed towards them again.

"Hey! What is wrong with you? Why did you just suddenly crowd around Ruka?"

Almost simultaneously the girls turned to face Mikan. Kokori, the leader, pushed her way towards Mikan, a smirk on her face.

"You wouldn't understand." She scoffed, "Natsume, the hottest guy in school, is missing. That is a problem. But of course you wouldn't care. After all, you hate him." She turned back towards Ruka and began bombarding him with questions.

Mikan stood there in total shock, not knowing what she should say. Luckily for her the door slammed opened and a man with a frog on his shoulder walked in.

"Sit down everyone!" he hissed. The students scrambled to their seats. "For the new student, I am Jinno, your math teacher. You are not allowed to use your alice, and whoever disrupts my class will be punished." He glared in Mikan's general direction and Mikan figured that she had caused some kinda incident when she had attended this school years before.

Jinno began his lecture almost as soon as the bell signaling the start of class rang. No one talked, only taking notes. Mikan began to get irritated at the silence of the class when a piece of paper slid on top of her notes.

_Ignore those girls. They know nothing about you and they are just jealous of you. What do you really think of Natsume?_ It read. Mikan smirked and answered Hotaru.

_I don't know... I mean I've only seen him. I haven't met him yet, but I think it's kinda strange that he would be pulled out of class_.

Mikan slid the note underneath Hotaru's notebook. The writing was in English. Hotaru's answer was in German.

_That used to happen a lot, but it stopped about two years ago... I think that your return is the reason that Persona had called him out of the class. _

Mikan froze as she read the last sentence.

_What was my relationship with this Natsume guy?_

_You two were really close._

Mikan looked at Hotaru disbelievingly. She was about to respond when she felt cold eyes boring into her back. Looking up, Mikan saw Jinno glaring at her with cold eyes.

"Give me the note."

"What are you talking about?" Mikan asked with feigned innocence. Jinno narrowed his eyes.

"Now." he hissed.

"There is no note." Mikan lied. She slid the note under her math notebook and watched her teacher intently. He was about to say something when the door banged open.

In the door way stood Natsume. His body showed his obvious exhaustion though his face sullen and depressed. He looked up at the class and his eyes met Mikan's.

Her vision went blurry and then black.

* * *

_Something was happening: kind of like an out-of-body experience. I saw myself. But I was different. Younger. Giddier. I was wearing the same uniform as I wore in my dream, but this time it was in tact, and my hair was pulled into two long pigtails. Narumi was standing next to me, talking to the class. I guessed that he was introducing me, but I couldn't hear anything that was going on._

_ Soon, the students all crowded around my younger self. They seemed to be congratulating me on something while a man with black hair was crying pathetically, clinging to Narumi. _

_ Suddenly, the door opened, and a young boy stood in the doorway. He had many cuts and bruises on his body, and was wearing the same cat mask that I had seen in my little vision earlier. I had a feeling that this was the younger version of Natsume. _

_ He stalked angrily into the classroom. When he passed by the person who I guessed was a younger Sumire, she started to talk to him, but he kicked her desk, scaring her. I gasped. Why was he so angry. I watched intently, but the scene began to fade away slowly. I shook my head, but I was once again enveloped into unconsciousness.

* * *

_

Mikan slowly opened her eyes. A bright light hung over her head.

She groaned at the realization that she was in the hospital and covered her eyes to try and block out the light. Someone must have been in the room because they came over.

"Are you alright, Miss Sakura?"

Mikan nodded. "What happened."

"Oh you gave us quite a scare. You suddenly collapsed in the middle of class! Not only that, but your blood pressure dropped greatly. Dr. Oisha thought that you might not make it." who ever the person was seemed happy to be saying this.

"Idiot! Don't tell her that!" someone scolded. Uncovering her eyes, Mikan slowly sat up and looked around the room, still not quite used to the brightness of the room. She saw could barely make out two figures, a nurse and Hotaru.

"What are you doing here?" Mikan muttered irritated.

"Can you leave for a moment?" Hotaru asked the nurse, completely ignoring her friend. After the nurse left, she turned towards Mikan. "You fainted in class, you idiot. What happened?"

"I… don't... know" Mikan lied.

"Please stop lying. You're not very good at it."

Mikan breathed in sharply before turning to Hotaru. "Why shouldn't I lie? I mean I just met you yesterday, why should I tell you things that even my mom doesn't know. Who do you think you are!" She took a deep breath before continuing. "I may have known you before but right now I know almost nothing about you. How do I know that you aren't trying to hurt me or something?"

Hotaru looked down, dejected. She said nothing before standing and leaving. Mikan sighed but her relief didn't last long. Someone else entered the room.

"Please just leave me alone." Mikan begged.

"Well, look at our little kitten." It was the same chilling voice as yesterday. Mikan stiffened. "What did happen I wonder." He smirked.

"What do you want with me?" she whispered. Persona laughed coolly.

"Tsk tsk, little kitten, do you really expect me to answer you?" he walked closer to the bed. "You are just our little kitten. None of this is important to you right now." he reached a hand behind Mikan. She was frozen in her spot. She felt his cool hand on the back of her neck.

"Good night, little kitten." he whispered and Mikan fell asleep.

* * *

Natsume

"What the hell is going on." Natsume hissed as soon as he saw Imai exit the hospital. Watching Mikan faint in front of him was not something he wanted to see again. Hotaru glared at him and stalked past without answering. Natsume grabbed her arm and repeated his question.

"Natsume..." Ruka said quietly. "You aren't going to get an answer out of Imai right now." Hotaru ripped her arm out of Natsume's grasp and stormed off. "When she's upset like that she won't talk."

"Of course you would know." Natsume muttered angrily. Ruka sighed.

"I'm sure Sakura is fine. What ever happened must have been connected to lack of sleep or something. Anyway, what happened to you?"

"The Principal has decided to put me back on missions." Natsume muttered distantly. He really wasn't paying attention to what he was saying.

"That's what I figured, but why?"

"How am I supposed to know. I'm just their puppet, nothing more." he left Ruka alone and headed to the dorms. It wasn't long before he made it to his room and he collapsed on the bed, not sure about what he was going to do about all of this. Mikan had fainted almost as soon as Natsume had made eye contact with her and Natsume knew that that was the cause.

The next day Natsume and Ruka made their way to class early, hoping to get there before anyone else did. Luckily for them, the class was empty. Sighing, Natsume sat down at his seat, hoping that he could talk to Mikan today. The door opened and a couple of other people came in including...

"Ah, Natsume," someone squealed, "how are you? I was worried after you ran out of the class yesterday. Are you hurt?" Kokori placed her hands on Natsume's table and leaned over in an obvious attempt to flirt.

"What do you want." Natsume hissed without looking at her. His eyes were still glued to the door in anticipation.

"I was wondering if you and Ruka wanted to go to central town with me on Sunday." she said sheepishly, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

Ruka shifted uncomfortably in his seat and glanced at Natsume. He was still refusing to look at Kokori, which was starting to get on the girl's nerves. She began to pout when the door opened once more and Hotaru entered.

She looked over at the boy's situation, grinned and walked over to them.

"Well hello there Kokori. What are you doing here?" she asked, "I figured that you would be crying your eyes out after Hyuuga left you alone yesterday. You were pretty upset when he followed me to the hospital."

"I knew he would be back today, Imai, please leave." Kokori snuffed. She flipped her hair away from her face before getting into a glaring match with Hotaru.

"Should we stop this?" Ruka asked slowly. Natsume shook his head.

"There's no way... what ever her name is would hurt Imai in front of us and Imai can take care of herself."

"Okay..."

It wasn't long before Kokori gave up and stormed to her seat. Looking extremely satisfied, Hotaru turned back towards the two boys.

"Acting the way I did yesterday was a horrible thing for me to do. I know you care about Mikan as well and I should have answered you. Also, you best be careful, Mikan's coming back today." Natsume and Ruka looked up at her.

"Did you just apologize?" Ruka asked at the same time Natsume inquired, "Why are you trying to help me?"

"I did no such thing Nogi and if you tell anyone I did don't be surprised when you have a horrible day." Ruka shuddered. "And I'm not helping you, Hyuuga, I'm helping Mikan. You were one of the only people who made her really happy back then and I want that to be again. Don't get conceited." she turned away and stalked to her seat.

"That makes sense. Sakura is one of the only people who Hotaru tries hard to keep happy." Natsume nodded at his friends logic and looked at the door just in time to see Mikan walk through.

She looked somewhat normal, but she was glancing around, almost as if she didn't want to have any kind of contact with any one in the class. Her eyes landed on Hotaru and she smiled, though is seemed she was embarrassed.

Natsume sighed as she disappeared into the crowed and leaned against the back of his chair. Ruka laughed at Natsume's reaction, drawing the attention of a few people as it wasn't very often that you heard Ruka laugh. Mikan and Hotaru were two of the people who heard. Hotaru pulled out a camera and Mikan headed towards them, but was interrupted by the teacher entering the room. The rest of the students scrambled to their seats and sat quietly.

Natsume sighed, relieved. It would have been awkward to meet Mikan at that point. He began to relax as Narumi shuffled a few papers around on his desk and looked up at the class.

"Okay everyone, I'll be busy today, so today is a free-day! Bye" Narumi said happily before rushing out of the room. Natsume groaned as the rest of the class began to divide into their small groups again. He looked around in time to see Mikan and Hotaru heading back towards them.

"Hey Ruka!" she chirped as she headed towards them. Natsume covered his eyes in an attempt to keep Mikan from trying to have a conversation with him. It didn't work

"You must be Natsume." Mikan said sweetly, "It' s nice to finally meet you." she smiled and held out her hand in greeting. Natsume acted like he wanted nothing to do with her, though he was hating every minute of it. She crossed her arms in frustration.

"What are you dong around Natsume?" someone across the room screeched. Natsume flinched at the sound of the voice and saw Kokori heading towards them

Natsume resisted the urge to strangle her.

Mikan turned around and asked what Kokori mean. Kokori ignored her, pushing past and leaning down to face Natsume.

"Hey Natsume," her voice had turned sickly sweet, "I think that Mikan here is a bad influence. I think you should stay away from her. You too, Ruka."

"And why is that?" Mikan asked dangerously. Quite a few students were watching them now but neither girl seemed to notice.

"Well, you were saying rude things about Natsume even though you guys had never even met before, and who knows what you say about Ruka when he's not around."

"Um... we are here." Ruka said quietly, though ended up being ignored.

"I was just saying what I felt. Now please go away. I want to talk to Ruka."

"You don't deserve to talk to Ruka. I mean, who would go around behind someone's back and talk trash about them?"

"You would."

By now the whole class was watching the exchange. Kokori huffed and turned to Natsume.

"Well Natsume, what are you going to do about her." Kokori was angry. It was obvious that Kokori couldn't handle this on her own and as much as Natsume wanted to watch the girl fall and burn, he realized that he was going to have to do something.

"Go away." He muttered. Kokori recoiled from him.

"You are choosing _her?_ Over _me?_" she whimpered.

"No," Natsume replied the anger building up inside of him, "both of you get out of my sight."


	4. Chapter 4

Well, here it is, chapter four revise. It's taken me forever but I finally got it done. So enjoy and review!

~Sunechirei

* * *

Mei-li

_The woman lay on a cold metal bed without moving. Her leg had begun to bleed again and red drops dripped onto the bed. She stirred as she began to feel the pain of her wound. Sitting up, she clutched the back of her head where the men had clubbed her. _

_ She looked around, flinching from the pain in her neck. The room she was in was concrete, but there were mirrors covering ever surface but a small door. _

_ "This is going to be easier than I thought." she muttered. She stood up, wincing and began to focus her energy on the door. Nothing happened. Startled, she tried to use her alice again, but like before, she couldn't. _

_ From behind a mirror, two people watched the woman with intent._

_ "What do you think." a young boy asked the woman next to him. She cocked her head._

_ "I do not know," she replied hesitantly, "Mei-li is obviously dangerous, but right now there is nothing she can do."_

_ The child smiled, "You are too skilled with your alice." he mused. "I think it's time I go and talk to our little captive._

_ He walked towards the door, still watching the woman. She was furious now, though it seemed the blood loss from her leg was taking it's toll. _

_ "Now now,don't get too upset." the boy said as he walked into the room. "You've lost a lot of blood from your leg and it would be bad if you died on me." _

_ The woman turned. "What do you want with me?" she hissed slowly. "And who are you?"_

_ "Oh you don't need to know that." the boy said calmly. "All you need to know is that there is no use escaping. The only thing you can do now is be a good girl and help me, Mei-li."_

_ Mei-li glared at him, "How do you know my name?" _

_ The boy just smiled.

* * *

_

Mikan

Mikan stood still, shocked at the rudeness of the boy in front of her. Finally she banged her fist on the table.

"What is wrong with you?" She growled, "I came over to talk to Ruka. Not you. You don't have to be so rude." before waiting for an answer, Mikan stormed off, heading back towards her seat where Hotaru was sitting. Mikan sat down angrily, slamming her books on the desk and put her head on them.

"I take it things didn't go well." Hotaru bluntly said. She fiddled with her newest invention, not bothering to look over at Mikan who didn't reply.

"Are you okay, Mikan?" two voices asked in unison. Mikan looked up and saw Anna and Nonoko standing over her with worried expressions. Smiling Mikan nodded.

"I'm fine, thanks. Just some issues with the emo master over there." Hotaru snorted at her comment but said nothing while Anna and Nonoko exchanged confused glances.

Another person walked up at this point. It was Yuu Tobita, the class president. "I think these two were talking about yesterday. You gave us all quite a scare, especially Imai and Hyuuga."

Mikan gave him a skeptical look. "Hyuuga? You mean that jerk over there that could care less about me? Oh yeah, he was probably so worried about me." Mikan muttered.

"People don't always act the way they want to." Hotaru mused as she placed the last screw in it's slot. She held up her new invention with pride, most likely planning who her first victim would be. It was then that Kokori decided to visit.

"What did you do to Natsume! He won't talk to me now."

"And he talked to you so much in the first place." Sumire said walking up, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"That doesn't matter. What did you do to him? He's been acting so weird since you've come and I want it to stop!"

"I apologize. Maybe Hyuuga can't stand my presence so he takes it out on you."

"Stop joking around! I know you were here four years ago, even if I wasn't and I want to know what happened between you two."

"I don't know. I don't remember dumb ass."

Kokori bit her lip in anger. She reached out and grabbed Mikan's arm tightly. Mikan felt faint, her vision beginning to get blurry. She could feel her body going into a shut down mode when Kokori let go of Mikan's arm and screamed in pain.

Blinking, Mikan looked around, her vision going back to normal. Kokori was clutching her arm and Hotaru was standing, holding out her new invention.

"Scram." she hissed. "Unless of course you want another taste." Kokori bolted out of the room, not looking back.

"What just happened?" Mikan asked feeling woozy.

"Kokori was using her alice on you. It's a very dangerous one and you're lucky you didn't faint, or die for that matter."

"Wait, what?"

"It's an energy draining alice. Normally she would have been here earlier, but her parents fought to keep her out. Eventually she almost killed someone so the academy brought her here." Hotaru explained.

"I want out of here." Mikan muttered. She stood shakily and walked out of the room.

No one stopped her as she made her way down the hall and out the door. She stumbled down the pathway, slowly getting her energy back before collapsing under a large, leafless tree. She thought about the day's events, the things that had been said.

"What is going on?" she muttered. Someone sat down next to her suddenly, startling her.

"You shouldn't be sad, Sakura." Ruka said kindly. "I know that this school is weird, but it's not that bad once you get used to it. Of course, it doesn't help that the majority of us know who you are already though you've just met us."

Mikan smiled. "Thanks."

"Also, don't worry about Natsume. He can be a jerk though I don't know what's going on now."

"Everyone is telling me that we were close before. Is that true?"

"Yeah... I'm not exactly sure what happened between the two of you, but I know that Natsume changed after you came. We all did."

Mikan bowed her head. "Yeah right. I can't even change myself, how could I have helped other people?"

"Well Natsume at least has changed."

"What, was he a little brat back then?"

"Yep. The first time we met you, Natsume was really angry at Naru so he decided to take it out on you. Of course it didn't help that you didn't just give him what he wanted so he decided to 'make you cry'."

Mikan gave Ruka a strange look. "What did he do?"

"He kinda took off your underwear and nicknamed you after the pattern."

Silence filled the air as Mikan's jaw dropped. "I'm going to kill him! Why would he do that to a poor, defenseless girl." she eventually screamed. Ruka looked down.

"He was... well he was different back then." he replied solemnly.

"What do you mean?" Mikan asked. Ruka looked as if he were about to say something important, but he changed his mind at the last minute.

"I probably shouldn't tell you... Natsume would probably get _really_ mad at me." he said. Mikan stood up.

"Come on, it can't be that bad."

"We should probably get back to class, Sakura." Ruka said, ignoring Mikan.

"Nah. I'm too tired now. I'm going back to my room." Mikan said, frustrated.

"Okay."

The rest of the week passed without much incident. Natsume was gone most of the time, and the rumors about Mikan had finally died down.

Then came Saturday.

This was the day that everyone went to the mixed classes, the ones where students would train their alices with others like them. It seemed to Mikan that this was the most important class of the week, though most people didn't want to go to these classes.

"Babysitting. That's all it is!" Sumire grumbled as she headed out the door. Ruka laughed pitifully and followed her, waving goodbye to his friends.

Mikan smiled at him as he left and thought about her own class; the dangerous abilities class. She had heard many rumors about it and none of them were very good. From what Mikan gathered, it was a class of delinquents and kids who acted out. Because of this, their teacher was Persona. Mikan shuddered at that thought. Meeting him again was not something Mikan was looking forward to as the last time she had seen him he had knocked her out in the hospital room.

"You'll be fine, Mikan." Anna said when she had noticed that Mikan hadn't been acting normally.

"Thanks, Anna. I'm sure I will be. Just nervous." she replied, hoping it was true. Anna smiled at her and followed Nonoko and Hotaru out of the room. Mikan watched them go, trying to find a solution for her fear of Persona. Eventually she gave up, sighing as she grabbed her bag before sulking out of the classroom. The closer she got to the room, the greater her sense of impending doom became. She began to shake as she reached out to the handle and slowly turned it.

"Well, looks like the new student has finally come."

Kokori was standing at the doorway, waiting like a puppy for Mikan to arrive, though Mikan guessed that most puppies didn't wear smug looks on their faces. The girl in front of her reached out to the handle on the inside of the door and yanked it all the way open, causing Mikan to fall in ungraciously. Laughter filled the room.

Mikan got to her knees, brushing dirt off of her blazer and looked up at the students who were already in the room. It was a small class, mainly made up of middle and high school kids, though there were a few elementary kids as well. All of them wore some kind of alice restraint, the most common being a hat or a mask, much like Natsume's, and they were all watching Mikan with cold eyes. Well, almost all of them.

"You really need to be nicer, Yamada." A young man walked up to Mikan and crouched down. A hat covered his head, barely showing his black hair, and a strange star tattoo was located under his eye. "I'm Andou Tsubasa, nice to meet you, again." he smiled and held out a hand to help Mikan up. She accepted it gratefully, ignoring Kokori's huff of irritation.

"Again?" Mikan asked, not quite sure what Tsubasa meant at first, before remembering that she had been at the school before.

"Yeah. I knew you before you lost your memory. It's kinda weird that you don't know who I am." He laughed, "It must be weird for you too."

"Yeah." Mikan looked around again and noticed that she was no longer the center of attention, though there was a small boy watching her. It was the same boy who had tried to escape that day. His eyes were wide as he watched her, and Mikan didn't know what to say to him. Luckily, she didn't have to.

"It's you," the boy said quietly, walking up to Mikan. Nervously, she took a step back, causing the boy to stop moving. "You look familiar..."

Another boy, older this time, laughed from behind Mikan. "So this is the girl who kept you from running away." the boy grabbed Mikan's shoulders and spun her around to get a good look at her. "She looks pathetic, I guess you've lost your touch, Hijiri." Mikan pulled away from the strange boy, shuddering from the lust she saw in his eyes.

He was about to say something else, but the door creaked open, drawing everyone's attention to it. In the doorway stood Persona, his cool demeanor calming the entire room in seconds.

"Is there a reason for this meeting?" someone called out. "I don't seem to remember us every having a welcome party for a new member." Mikan couldn't tell who was talking, but she could feel the hatred in that sentence, and figured it was someone who was involved with Kokori.

Persona smiled. "It's true. None of you have ever had a 'welcome party,' but Miss Sakura here is special. She needs to know who will be there to back her up."

"What makes her so special?" Mikan was surprised at the daring question. Judging how everyone else reacted to Persona, she would have guessed that none of the students would question his decisions, but it seemed he didn't mind. His smile just got wider.

"Well then, little kitten, why don't you come and show your knew class what you can do."

The crowd around Mikan parted, leaving her in the direct path of her new teacher. "What are you guys talking about?" she asked, looking around nervously. Persona laughed.

"This is the dangerous class, the class where students with alices dangerous to others can train them safely so that none of the other students get hurt. Or at least that's what the cover is." he began to pace around the room. "In reality, this class is a secret organization that trains students who posses valuable alices and then send them off on missions. Basically, the school's dirty work." Mikan was horrified. She was beginning to see why her mother hated this school so much. "But there's more. At least for you. Especially with your alice."

Kokori pushed her way out in front of Mikan at this point. "You keep going on about this girl, teacher. What makes her so special that we need to meet her? What is her other alice?"

Whispers broke out among the group of students, but Persona hushed them with a wave of his hand. "You haven't told anyone what your alice is?" Mikan shook her head. "Well then, this is going to be interesting. Miss Sakura, go ahead and demonstrate your abilities on your new friend there."

Mikan narrowed her eyes, not sure how she was going to get out of this. Kokori was watching her intently, and Mikan saw no way to convince Persona that this wasn't necessary. Sighing, she placed her hand on Kokori's arm, and focused.

* * *

Natsume

"Your vitals seem to be getting better, Mr. Hyuuga, I think you can be discharged today."

Natsume sighed as the doctor spoke these words. It had been three days since he had arrived at the hospital, exhausted and coughing up blood, and he couldn't wait to taste fresh air again.

The doctor left, muttering something about bratty little boys who needed to start respecting their elders, and a small boy slipped in as the door closed.

"Natsume, where is Mikan?" Youichi asked quietly, climbing onto the chair next to Natsume's bed. Natsume observed the boy carefully.

"Did something happen?" he asked the young boy. Youichi nodded.

"A girl that looks like her came into class today, but Shadow introduced himself, and she only recognized me as the boy who was trying to escape. Is that really Mikan?"

Natsume sat up. "Yeah, that's her. She lost her memory four years ago. Don't you remember?" silence fell over the two boys as the last question rang through the room. Finally, Youichi talked again.

"Why are you here, Natsume. It's been a while since you've been in the hospital," he asked, not bothering to answer Natsume's question. Natsume sighed, not knowing how to respond. "Are you not feeling well?" Turning away from the boy, Natsume waved his hand to tell him to leave.

"I'm fine, Youichi. You don't have to worry about me. Go find that girl you're always with. She's probably looking for you." Youichi opened his mouth to protest but closed it after a moments consideration. He walked out of the room without another word.

"Must you be so mean, Mr. Hyuuga? That little boy is very worried about you." Natsume turned to see a nurse walk in. There was a smile on her face. "Well, I suppose you live and learn?" she laughed. "Now then, the doctor has told me that you're okay to leave, as long as you promise to take you're medicine." Natsume grunted causing the nurse to let out another laugh.

"What's so funny?" Natsume hissed. "You're always like this. Is there a problem with you're brain or something?"

Natsume glared at the nurse. He had never liked her. No matter how many times he had gotten stuck with this nurse, she had always smiled at him, laughing at whatever he said. It irritated him.

"Oh, it's nothing, Mr. Hyuuga. Here is your prescription." she held out a piece of paper which Natsume snatched from her hands. He slid off the bed and walked as quickly as he could past the nurse who was still smiling.

"Stupid nurse. Always being happy like that. People who are like that should just-" he stopped talking when he remembered that Mikan had used to be like that. He shook his head and headed out of the hospital without bothering to get his medicine.

As he passed through the hospital doors, he began to recall what had happened after he had found Mikan four years ago.

* * *

_Mikan had been kept in hospital for two weeks after Natsume had brought her to the hospital. No one had been allowed to see her, not even Hotaru, during this time, driving both Hotaru and Natsume insane. _

_ Finally, Narumi came into the classroom one day with news about the girl. "As all of you know, your classmate, Mikan Sakura, has been in the hospital for a while. Today I have been informed that she will be released in a few days." Everyone began to talk, happy that Mikan was going to come back to class finally. Natsume however, knew that there was something else. "But, she will not be coming back to class."_

_ Silence filled the room. Natsume clenched his fists under his desk as Yuu Tobita stood up and asked why._

_ Narumi sighed. "Mikan has suffered trauma which the doctors think caused her to lose her memories-"_

_ "Is that why we haven't been allowed to see her?" Hotaru stood up, her voice colder than ice. Narumi laughed nervously. _

_ "Well yes and-."_

_ Hotaru interrupted him again. "So because she doesn't remember anything, they're letting her leave? That's impossible!"_

_ "If you'll let me finish, Imai." the teacher said, getting frustrated. "Her alices are also gone. She can't stay here." The whole class was silent. Some people were crying. Hotaru sat down with a pained look on her normally stoic face._

_ "I know it's hard to lose a classmate, especially when you aren't allowed to say goodbye to them, but this is something that has to be done. I'm sorry." Narumi lowered his head. "The rest of the day will be study time." He left the room in an uproar._

_ "Why... why did this have to happen?" Ruka whispered besides Natsume._

_ After class was over, Hotaru came over to Natsume and Ruka._

_ "What the hell happened to Mikan, Hyuuga." she hissed. Natsume refused to say anything, causing Hotaru's anger to become worse. She pulled out her Baka Gun and fired it at him.. Natsume fell out of his chair, and everyone that was still in the room expected him to burn Hotaru. He just sat there._

_ "I'm sorry." his voice was barely audible. Hotaru threw her gun at him, tears forming in her eyes, and stormed out of the classroom. _

_ Neither Hotaru nor Natsume came to class for the next four days, worrying Ruka. He tried to talk to the both of them, but he didn't have the guts to go to Hotaru's dorm room, and Natsume had locked him out. Eventually, the boy had given up trying to talk to the two of them. _

_ Natsume had been grateful when that happened, but he still sulked in the dark. _

_ Finally, it was a few hours before Mikan was scheduled to leave, and Natsume was planning to go see her one last time. However, it seemed that the Elementary Headmaster had guessed that he would do this because Subaru Imai came into his room._

_ "What so you want?" Natsume said sullenly, sitting back on his bed. _

_ "I came here to warn you about trying to see Mikan before she leaves." he explained. "Persona has told me that you will be severely punished if you do, so I suggest that you don't."_

_ "Shut up." Natsume said, irritated. Subaru turned to leave._

_ "She was asking about you, by the way." this caught Natsume's attention. He looked at Subaru wit wide eyes. "When she first woke up, she was asking about the boy with red eyes that had saved her. I think she wanted to thank you."_

_ "What did you tell her."_

_ "I didn't tell her anything. The principal, however, lied to her and said that there were no students in the school that matched her description, and that a teacher at the school found her. She didn't seem to believe him, though." With that, the latent representative left, leaving a surprised Natsume._

_ "Like I'm going to listen to your warning." Natsume muttered to himself, opening his window and jumping out of it. He landed softly on the ground and ran as quickly as he could towards the front gate. When he arrived, he as best as he could in the trees. _

_ He saw Subaru waiting there with Sakurano, both muttering quietly. Natsume watched them intently as a car drove up behind them. They stopped talking immediately and turned towards the car, opening the back door when it stopped. Natsume could tell that they were coaxing someone out of the car, someone who Natsume assumed was Mikan. _

_ He was right. _

_ A small girl finally slid out, her body shying away from any type of touch. The gates of the school opened and an old man came running through, Yuka following shortly after. _

_ Natsume assumed that the old man was the grandfather Mikan had always talked about, and had even gotten Ruka in trouble for. The old man hobbled over to her and reached out his arms, but the poor girl back away from him, leaning against Sakurano. This seemed to anger the old man as he began to shout at the two high school students, before coughing madly. Yuka placed her hands on his shoulders and told him something, but they were too far away for Natsume to hear anything that was going on. What they said didn't matter to Natsume though, and he continued to watch Mikan's every move. She was still pressed up against Sakurano, and his arms were wrapped protectively around the little girl._

_ After some time, the old man calmed down and was able to coax Mikan over to him. He started crying and hugged her tightly. She seemed to relax a little, and hugged the man back. He said something to Imai before standing up and leading the confused Mikan out of the school grounds._

_ Yuka was still talking to the two boys, and her eyes wandered over to where Natsume was hiding. He froze, wondering if Yuka had noticed he was there. Luckily for him, she looked away and followed her daughter out of the school._

_ Natsume watched the gates close behind Yuka, and as they did, he could feel cold water begin to form in his eyes. _

_ And for the first time in three years, Natsume Hyuuga, cried.

* * *

_

Mikan

"Hey everyone, do you want to go to Central Town?" Anna's cheerful voice asked the next morning at breakfast. Everyone at the table said yes, before turning to delightful chatter about what they were going to do when they go there. Mikan, on the other hand, was extremely confused.

"What's Central Town?" she asked quietly, not really wanting to draw attention to herself. Yuu turned to her with a smile and began to explain.

"Central Town is located at the center of the school grounds, and it's a place where students can go and relax or spend their allowance. It's really nice and there are a lot of interesting stores. I'm sure you would love it there." Mikan smiled.

"You're right, I think I would like it there, especially after what happened yesterday..." she trailed off, thinking about the end of her abilities class yesterday. She had been instructed to steal the alice of the girl that hated her the most, so of course that hadn't turned out well. Kokori had been mortified when she realized that she could no longer suck up people's energy and had decided the best thing to do was tell everyone in the school what Mikan's other alice was. So naturally, Mikan had become someone most people didn't want to talk to.

She was lucky, though, that her friends could care less what her alice was and were still talking to her.

When breakfast had been finished, Anna and Nonoko led the group to the buses, talking excitedly. While Mikan was waiting to for the bus, she heard someone running up behind them.

"Hey, wait up!" the person called, causing Mikan to turn around. She saw Ruka and the small boy, Youichi, running quickly to catch up with the group. "Do... you... mind... if... we... join... you?" Ruka managed to ask between breaths. Nonoko laughed.

"What are you going on about, Ruka. It's not like we can stop you." Ruka nodded, his face turning a light pink and began to wait with the others. When the buses finally showed up, Mikan clambered on first and sat in the seat nearest the front of the bus. She waved for Hotaru to come join her, but was surprised when instead, a tall upperclassman plopped down. Mikan didn't recognize the boy however.

"Um... who are you?" She asked nervously.

The boy looked at her. "Of course you wouldn't recognize me. I'm Youichi." Mikan scooted away from the boy, not sure what was going on. He rolled his eyes. "I have two alices. On of them is spirit manipulation, and the other one lets me become a seventeen-year-old."

"Oh. Okay then." Mikan said, feeling a little freaked out. She smiled at him, but he just ignored her, staying silent for the entire bus ride, confusing Mikan. She kept trying to start conversations with him, but he continued to ignore her.

She began to wonder why he would sit with her if he didn't even want to talk to her, but he startled her by suddenly turning back into his seven year old self. Her mouth opened to comment on what had just happened, but the bus stopped suddenly and the driver announced that they were in Central Town.

* * *

Hotaru

Ruka and Hotaru watched Mikan jump happily at the sights of Central Town. The was she was acting had begun to intrigue them both.

"I wonder what happened?" Hotaru said to Ruka, looking at him curiously. He just nodded.

"The way she's acting, it's kinda like how she was when we came here the first time with her. Remember." Hotaru smiled at the memory and pushed Ruka forward. He got the hint of her wanting to be alone and waved goodbye before rushing towards the others. Hotaru watched them for a bit before letting out an inaudible laugh.

"You can come out of hiding now, Hyuuga." She said, turning to the tree next to her. Almost instantly, Natsume came crashing out of the tree, covered in random cuts and bruises.

"Mission?"

Natsume glared at her. "It's none of your business. And I wasn't hiding, Imai, I was just waiting for you guys to leave me alone with some quiet. But you just had to realize I was here."

"So that's why you didn't say hello to you're friend. Or was it?" she raised and eyebrow and looked him over, amused. Natsume let out a low growl.

"Why does it matter to you."

"It doesn't." Hotaru replied simply. She reached forward and grabbed Natsume's wrist.

"What do you want?" he asked, pulling away from her.

"You were mean to Mikan. You deserve to be punished." Natsume shuddered. "I wonder what food is for sale today." Hotaru hinted, pushing past Natsume. "Come on. You're going to buy me something."

* * *

Natsume

"Make me." Natsume hissed, turning back towards the tree. Hotaru reached out and grabbed his arm again.

"You will come with me, or this will be all around the school." she grinned evilly, holding up a photo she had taken of him. Natsume tried to snatch it back, but Hotaru was too fast for him. The shook her head. "Oh no. You aren't getting this back. Not yet anyway."

Natsume gritted his teeth but gave in. There was no way he could catch up to her in his condition. The two began to walk.

As they got close to the group, Natsume heard Youichi talking.

"Mikan, you need to try some howalon." he said to brunette girl beside him.

"Okay, Youichi!" she replied taking one from the young boys hands. She was about to take a bite but she heard the two walking up to the group. "Oh Hotaru!"she said brightly, but her face fell when she saw Natsume. "What are you doing here, Hyuuga?"

An awkward silence fell over the group as Mikan glared at Natsume.

He turned away from her. "I don't know. Ask Imai." he said, hating how he had to act around Mikan. He knew that she hated him. He continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye, hoping that she wouldn't be observant enough to notice.

For the rest of the day, the group followed Mikan around, showing her all of the things that could be done in Central Town. She seemed to be happy, but she also seemed to be irritated by Natsume's presence.

Finally, the day was ending and everyone began to head back to the buses, but Hotaru held Natsume back.

"I need you to watch over Mikan for me." was all she said before following the others to the bus. Natsume watched her go, not sure quite what she meant by that.


	5. Chapter 5

Yay! I finished chapter six finally! This one took me forever. I've had major writers block and I have been sick. Oh yes, and I appologize for the messed up fonts and stuff on my previous chapters. Not all of the info transferred. Anyway, thanks again to Draykat for the editing! RxR please!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-

_The woman watched from the safety of the observing room as Mei-li tries to use her alices. The door opened and a doctor walked in._

_"Where are the results?" the woman asked him in a quiet voice._

_"They are right here." the doctor replied, handing her a folder. The woman opened it and read the contents._

_"Th-th-this is impossible!" she whispered, "How can that woman have five alices?" she threw the report on the floor and turned to glare at the doctor. He shook his head._

_"Only two of them are actually hers. The other three were alices that have been stolen from other people, and placed in her body." he explained._

_"And the ones that are originally hers?"_

_"They are the singing alice and the alice of destruction. The ones that are not hers are the mind reading alice, the healing alice, and the memory alice." the doctor said as he watched Mei-li. "I take it that my medicine is working."_

_"Yes, but we are not on that topic right now. How did she get those alices." the woman said, frustrated. The doctor smiled._

_"Calm yourself, Akira-san, like I said before, they are stolen from other people. So someone with the stealing alice most likely gave them to her." he said. He turned around and started to head for the door._

_"Wait!" the woman, Akira, called, "I have a question for you." The doctor turned around._

_"I have an answer." he replied in a mocking voice. Akira clenched her fist._

_"How did Yuuto-sama become the leader of our organization. He is just a child."_

_"That 'child' is a complete genius. At the age of six, his IQ was 290, and he has a photographic memory." the doctor smirked, "That is all I am going to tell you. Goodbye Akira-san." he left the room with a smirk on his face._

_"He is a bas..." there was an explosion in the other room. Akira looked at the observation window and saw the bed was in small, flaming pieces. Akira narrowed her eyes and cautiously entered the room._

_"What are you doing." she asked angrily. Mei-li turned to look at her. Her silver hair was pulled into a ponytail, and her clothes were burned from the bed._

_"I'm using my alice. Do you have a problem with that." She said. Akira glared at her._

_"Yes I do. I also need to know who you got those three alices from." Mei-li shrugged._

_"An old friend." she stated calmly. "Now please get out before I get angry and hurt you."_

_"You can't hurt me."_

_"Oh and why not?"_

_"Because I have the nullification alice. If you try and use yours, It won't work on me."_

_"Fine." Mei-li turned back towards the bed and, using her alice, destroyed a small piece of the bed. Akira got very angry and stormed out of the room. The turned back towards the window and pressed a button._

_Immediately, the room was filled with a gas; the doctors medicine. Akira watched as Mei-li started to cough, and then she collapsed._

_"Hah. How special are you now?" Akira muttered quietly. She pressed the button again and the room cleared._

_"Sleep tight. When you wake up, you are not going to be happy."_

-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-

"Good morning class!" Narumi said in a happy voice, as usual. "Unfortunately, I have some bad news today..." No one but Natsume noticed Hotaru come into the room. They were too busy paying attention to Narumi. "Sadly, Imai-san will be leaving shortly for..." most of the students cheered at this news.

_Stupid idiots._ Natsume thought as Hotaru pulled out her baka cannon and shot every student who had been happy at this news. Narumi sighed. "Anyway... she will be going to America for about a month..."

"I shall be gone for exactly twenty-three days, eight hours, and fifteen minutes." Hotaru interrupted. "This job is going to be difficult and if anyone tries to contact me in any way will have hell to pay when I get back."

"So that's what you were talking about..." Natsume whispered as he recalled their visit to Central Town the other day. Ruka turned toward him.

"What do you mean, Natsume." he asked quietly, glancing at Hotaru to make sure she wasn't listening to them. She probably was.

"Hn." was all Natsume said. He looked up and saw Hotaru watching him. When his eyes met hers, she grinned, sending shivers down Natsume's spine.

_Oh, how I hate her._

Mikan was sitting with her head in her hands. Natsume wondered why she wasn't freaking out, but he figured that Hotaru had already told her about it. _Oh well,_ Natsume thought, _She has changed a lot so this really isn't that abnormal._

After the students that had begun to talk had quieted down again, Narumi continued talking. "Imai-san has brought it to my attention that Mikan-chan is still unfamiliar with the way the school works, so she shall be assigned a new partner for the time being. Any voluntee..."

BAKA BAKA BAKA

Narumi ended up on the floor with the baka gun was still pointed at his head.

"Hyuuga will do it." Hotaru said glancing at her watch. The class was completely silent, then chaos erupted.

"What!" both Mikan and Natsume yelled at the same time, their voices loud enough to be heard over the other students. Mikan stood up angrily.

"What are you doing!" she whined. She pushed her hair away from her face and was about to speak again, but Hotaru beat her to it.

"Oh, will you look at the time, I have to go." Hotaru said, completely ignoring Mikan. She walked over to her rabbit bike and climbed on. She zoomed slowly to the door, then she kicked up the speed and disappeared. Narumi watched her go with disbelief.

"Well, I guess we really have no choice..." He said, and then muttered under his breath, "If I choose someone else, she'll kill me." He sighed. "And Mikan-chan, you will have to sit by Natsume-kun starting tomorrow, until Imai-san gets back. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a very, _very, _important meeting to go to, so the rest of the day will be a free day." with that he walked out of the classroom.

Natsume smiled to himself. _Damn you __Imai: you__ are going to get me in trouble for __this. But__ I have to thank you anyway. _Ruka looked at Natsume and smiled at him. Both boys looked at Mikan and flinched.

There was a dark aura around her, scaring everyone within two meters of her.

"I don't think Sakura-san is very happy about this..." Ruka muttered.

Natsume rolled his eyes and Ruka laughed quietly. For the rest of the period , Natsume kept stealing glances at Mikan. Her condition seemed to get better as Anna and Nonoko talked to her.

When the bell rang, Natsume got ready to leave, but he noticed Kokori walking up to Mikan. He turned his full attention towards the girls. Kokori whispered something in Mikan's ear. Mikan stood up angrily, glared at Natsume. She stormed angrily out of the room, leaving a very confused Natsume and Ruka to ponder about what had happened.

"Wh-what was that?" Ruka stuttered. Natsume shrugged.

_I don't want to run into her right now, so I'll just stay here._ He thought to himself as he picked up his formerly discarded manga. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kokori walk up to them. _Oh great_.

"Hi Natsume-kun, Ruka-kun. I got rid of that annoying bitch for you. She shouldn't bother either of you now." she said smugly. She grinned at the two boys, but Natsume just ignored her.

"What do you mean?" Ruka asked, "Sakura-san isn't annoying." he was looking up at her with wide eyes. Kokori blinked.

"Yes she is. Not only does she annoy and try to flirt with Natsume-kun, but she also stole my precious alice during our class on Saturday in front of the entire class. She is really dangerous." the irritating girl pouted. Natsume looked up from his manga to glare at Kokori.

"What did you say to her just now?" he hissed in an icy voice.

"Who? Mikan?" Kokori asked, not noticing Natsume's tone. "Oh, I just told her the truth: that she is an annoying bitch who should leave this school. I also told her not to become cocky because you were her partner. I mean, you would never help he--AHHHHHHH!" Kokori screamed as the ends of her long black hair set on fire. Immediately, all of her followers ran up to her and tried to put the fire out.

Natsume stood up and glared at the girl before walking out of the classroom.

_Dammit. That slut had no reason to do that. Now Mikan will hate me even more._ The fire caster thought furiously. He walked out of the building as the bell for the next class rang. He didn't care though. He was planning on ditching class anyway. He decided to go to his sakura tree. No one else went there. If they did, Natsume would burn them until they had to go to the hospital.

Or so he thought.

As the tree came into his view, he noticed someone sitting in the shade. From where he was, Natsume couldn't tell who it was. _I'm going to burn whoever is there._ He thought.

As he got closer, he noticed that it was a high school girl with long brown hair that was pulled into a half ponytail. He gasped when he was finally able to identify the girl; it was Mikan. He stopped walking and stared at her. She was leaning against the tree, her eyes closed. She seemed to be sleeping.

Cautiously, Natsume walked over to her and crouched down beside her. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. She didn't seem to recognize him, though, because she only stared at him with a blank face, and said nothing. Soon, however, she seemed to come to her senses.

"What are you doing here!" Mikan screamed as she stood up and backed away from Natsume.

"I'm ditching class. And you're in my spot." he said covering his ears in mock pain. "There is no need to scream, baka." Mikan put her hands on her hips and glared at Natsume.

"I am not an idiot, Hyuuga, and I screamed because you startled me." She huffed. "Besides, whoever said that this was your spot. It's just a tree."

"I declared that this is my tree. So get out of here before I burn you."

"Burn me!? Oh you have the fire alice." Mikan said quietly with amazement. Natsume gave her a quizzical look.

"Whatever. Just go away, baka." he said as he slid down against the tree. Mikan leaned over and slapped him across the face. Natsume sat upright, his eyes wide as he looked at Mikan who was in front of him.

"What is wrong with you!" she screamed. Tears were forming in her eyes.

_Why is she crying?_ Natsume thought. She shook her head and continued.

"You barely even know me and for some reason, you already hate me." she turned and started to walk away. "Why am I even talking to you? You probably don't even care about how I feel."

Natsume stood up, reached forward and grabbed Mikan's wrist, turning her so that she faced him.

"W-what are you doing..." Mikan gasped as she struggled against his grasp. Natsume tightened his grip and pulled Mikan into a tight hug. Mikan stopped moving from shock.

"I'm sorry." Natsume murmured in her ear. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, please don't..." _What am I doing?! _Natsume let go of Mikan and pushed her away. "I-I have to go." he said as he ran past her, farther into the forest.

-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-

_What the hell?!_ A dazed Mikan thought as she watched Natsume run away from her. She stumbled backwards and collapsed in front of the sakura tree. _Why did Hyuuga just suddenly hug me__?__ I thought he hated me. _

"Mikan-chan!" someone yelled. Mikan looked up and saw Anna and Nonoko running towards her. "Mikan-chan, hurry, hurry. The next class is Jinno, and if your late or absent he is going to be really mad." Mikan could only look up at her friend.

"Um... are you okay Mikan-chan?" Nonoko inquired. "Your face is kinda red." Mikan shook her head and laughed.

"I'm fine. Let's go back to class." she stood and followed her friends back to the classroom.

**One week later**

"Hello class. I have really good news today! First of all, we have a new student!" Mikan looked at Narumi, from her new seat by Natsume, with interest. The door opened and a boy with honey-blonde hair and blue eyes walked in. He looked around at everybody as he walked to the front of the class room and bowed.

"Hello, my name is Tadashi Hiro. I am in the technical class and my alice is the mechanical alice." he bowed again and looked at Narumi, waiting for further instructions.

_He's kinda cute._ Mikan thought as she observed him with interest. _And he seems a lot nicer than Hyuuga..._ she glanced over at him. Remembering what had happened the week before, she blushed slightly _Gaaaah! What's happening to me! _Mikan put her head in her hands and tried to calm down.

Once she had, she looked up and was surprised to see the new student standing over her, looking at Ruka.

"You must be Ruka." he said kindly. Ruka nodded. Hiro glanced at Mikan. "Ruka-kun is supposed to be my partner." he explained when he noticed the confusion on Mikan's face. He sat down next to Mikan. "Narumi-sensei, is it okay if I sit here for today?"

Narumi nodded. Natsume clenched his fist and glared at the newcomer while Narumi continued to speak.

"Well anyway, the other reason why I am here is that the Cultural Fest preparations start tomorrow." most everybody in the room cheered. "So for the next two weeks, everyday will be spent with your alice-based class. That's all. Bye " Mikan, who had by now gotten used to Narumi's weird disappearances, turned to Ruka.

"What is the Cultural Fest?" she asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hiro looking in their direction with interest. _Oh right, he doesn't know either._

"It's a four day event that let's students show off their alices with their class. For instance, the technical class have shops to sell the stuff they make." Ruka explained.

"That sounds like a lot of fun." Hiro said behind them Mikan turned around and he looked at her. "Oh by the way. Miss, I never got your name."

"It's Sakura Mikan." Mikan muttered shyly.

"Mikan-chan huh, that's a cute name. It fits you." Mikan blushed and looked away. Ruka glanced nervously at Natsume, who looked very angry.

_What's eating Hyuuga?_ Mikan wondered as she watched him out of the corner of her eye. Hiro seemed to noticed Natsume's displeasure as well.

"Um... Are you Hyuuga Natsume?" he asked. Natsume nodded. "Are you okay? You seem kind of angry at something." Natsume didn't answer and Mikan got frustrated. He hadn't talked to her at all for the past week, forcing Mikan to rely on Ruka to help her around.

"Oh just ignore him." Mikan said, "He isn't nice to anyone but Ruka and his girlfriend." Natsume flinched. He turned and looked at Mikan who had a smug look on her face.

"What did you just say, little girl?" he hissed angrily.

"Oh, what's this? Are we getting a reaction from the all mighty Hyuuga?" Mikan taunted. _I'm so fed up with this stupid boy. _

"Mikan-chan, did something happen between you two?" Hiro asked. Mikan looked at him and smiled sweetly.

"No. This guy has just been really mean to me ever since I met him." Mikan explained, ignoring Ruka's protests. _Except for when he hugged you._ Her conscious reminded her. She blushed madly at the thought and turned away, causing deranged stares from the three boys around her.

"What's wrong, Sakura-san?" Ruka asked. Mikan looked up at him.

"Oh. Nothing. Um... I have to go." Mikan said and she ran over to Anna and Nonoko.

-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-

Natsume watched Mikan as she talked with her friends, her face still red from whatever she was thinking. Hiro laughed a little at the embarrassed girl.

"She's so cute, don't you think?" he asked Ruka while he looked at Mikan with gentle eyes. "What class is she in?"

"Sakura-san is in the dangerous class." Ruka replied nervously glancing at Natsume.

"What's the dangerous class? I've never heard of it before." Hiro said, "Who else is in that class?" Natsume smirked.

"The only other people in that class that are here are that slut over there, and me." Natsume said as he pointed in the direction of Kokori. He looked up at Hiro. "Why does it concern you?" Hiro didn't reply. "Tch." Natsume grunted, standing up. "Are you coming, Ruka?" he asked. Ruka nodded as he stood up and grabbed his rabbit. They walked out of the room and out side the building.

"Are you okay, Natsume?" Ruka asked quietly. "Did something happen between you and Sakura-san?"

Natsume looked away from him and stopped walking. He remembered the week before, when he slipped up and hugged Mikan.

_I wonder what she thought of it. She seems to be blushing a lot recently._

"No. Nothing happened." Natsume eventually replied. He began to walk again, heading towards the dorms. Ruka followed him.

"Where are you going? Why are you going to the dorms? Natsume!" Ruka called desperately. Natsume sighed.

"I have to tell you something." he said, "Please don't talk until we get into my room." Ruka stared at him strangely but said nothing as they entered the dorms.

After they had gotten into the room, Natsume looked at Ruka.

"There is a reason that I am not being nice to her."

Ruka gave his friend a confused look before saying "Sakura-san? What do you mean by that?" he sat down on the couch.

"Remember what happened four years ago?" Natsume asked.

"Yes, of course I do. Why?"

"Well, Persona and the Elementary principal were the ones behind it." Ruka stared at him, shocked.

"S-s-so, you are being threatened again?"he yelled angrily.

"Shhhhh... yes, I am. Keep it down." Natsume hissed. "The day when Persona pulled me out of class..."

"So your just going to let this go by? Let some other person take her from you?" Ruka said angrily.

"I can't let that happen again. You wouldn't understand. You never saw her..." Natsume mumbled. "Besides, she hates me anyway." Ruka just watched as Natsume sat down on the bed. He had a dark look to him.

"How long do you think that you can keep this up?" Ruka asked gently. Natsume looked up at him and shrugged. Ruka sighed and got of the bed.

"Think about what you are doing. Okay. Please?" Ruka told Natsume before he left the room. Natsume lay down on his bed.

_I shouldn't have told him that._ Natsume thought as he drifted off to sleep. _Who knows what is going to happen know._

**A few days later**

The entire school was busy getting ready for the festival. The only people who were not excited for it were those of the dangerous class.

"It's so annoying that all the rest of the school thinks that they are better than us just because we are forbidden from participating." Kokori was complaining to a very annoyed Natsume.

_Why do I even care about what you think? Why are you talking to me?!_ He thought angrily while Kokori continued to chatter on about the festival. He stood up.

"Ah! Where are you going? Natsume-kun!" Kokori called after him as he walked away from her.

_God... why can't she take a hint and leave me alone?_

He continued to walk around the deserted hallway, hoping that Ruka had managed to escape from the evil grasp of Narumi. He heard footsteps behind him. They had a feminine sound to them.

_Oh great. Kokori's back._ Natsume turned around only to discover that it was Mikan who was running up behind him. Natsume grinned.

"Following me, little girl?" he asked her when she had caught up to him. She stopped running when she reached him, out of breath. Her hair had fallen out of the ponytail that she had put it in earlier that day, and her uniform was messed up. She had a frightened look on her face.

"Hey are you okay?" Natsume inquired when he noticed the state that Mikan was in. She looked at him, then behind her. Something must have caught her attention, because she grabbed Natsume by the arm and dragged him behind the building, shoved him up against the wall and put her hand over his mouth to silence him.

Natsume was too surprised by her action to try and retaliate.

"Please." Mikan whispered. "Please stay silent and don't move." that's when Natsume heard footsteps near them. Mikan tensed up.

"Koneko-chan. Where are you? You shouldn't hide from me."

_Persona! She is hiding from Persona! Why?_ He reached up and grabbed her hand and pulled it away form his mouth. _This is just like the time that I was hiding from him, but this time..._ the steps died away and Mikan relaxed and let go of Natsume. She leaned against the opposite wall, her hair covering her expression.

"What was that all about?" Natsume asked her. She looked away from him._ Her hair really does look better down... STOP IT! This isn't the time to be thinking about that!_

"The missions I have to do. I can't stand them." Mikan finally muttered. She sat down against the wall and sighed. Natsume walked over and sat down beside her. "Why do they make us do this?" she asked.

"I've been wondering the same thing for seven years now." Natsume replied. "There is really nothing we can do about it." Mikan sighed again and leaned against Natsume, causing him to blush crimson.

"You know what? You can be really nice sometimes." Mikan whispered. "Thank you."

-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-

Mikan woke up to find herself laying on a bed in her pitch black room. She glanced at the clock. It was 7:30 am.

"I wonder how long I've been asleep?" she mumbled to herself. The last few days had been hectic. All of the students were happily preparing for the festival, Natsume was avoiding her after they had hidden from Persona, and then there were the missions. She didn't even remember coming back to her room last night.

_Oh well. _She thought as she got up from her bed and walked over to the window, drawing open the shades. The sun had already risen casting a golden glow upon the forest's trees. Mikan grinned. Tomorrow was the day Hotaru was scheduled to come back.

_I'm sure she is busy making inventions for her vendor. _ Mikan thought as she got dressed in her uniform and wandered into the hallway. She made her way through the crowds of students to the cafeteria, hoping she wasn't too late for breakfast.

Mikan entered the room and surveyed her surroundings. The room was practically empty, though it wouldn't seem like it from outside the room. She spotted her friends at a table near the back entrance, but to her despair, the bitch Kokori was standing next to Hiro. She had been flirting with the new boy ever since his first day at the school, and it bugged Mikan for some reason.

When Hiro spotted Mikan, he smiled and raised his hand halfheartedly. Kokori whipped her head around and gave Mikan a terrifying glare. Mikan smirked and walked up to the group.

"Hey, everyone. What's going on?" she asked in a fake giggly voice. Kokori stuck her nose up in the air and huffed as she stalked in the opposite direction. Sumire giggled at Kokori's reaction to Mikan and soon, the rest of the girls joined in. Hiro walked up to Mikan.

"Um... may I talk to you for a moment?" He asked her shyly. Mikan nodded and followed him out of the room.

"What's up?"

"Um... well I was wondering since the dangerous class isn't allowed to participate in the festival, do you want to spend the time with me?" he asked. Mikan's face turned red.

_Hiro wants me to spend the time at the festival with him?!_

"Ah. It's okay if you don't want to, but, I don't want you to be all alone and I don't have to be at my stall..." he mumbled.

Mikan finally found her voice. "No. It's alright. I'll go with you."


	6. Chapter 6

Yay! Chapter 7! This time I would like to thank Draykat and Pyro-link for their editing. There are some comments that are unsigned so I would like to answer there questions in this chapter. Don't worry though, it will be as long, if not longer than my other chaps.

Blackrose: About your comment on the nullification alice, Mikan and her dad aren't the only ones with it, it is just a really rare alice. That is why Akira was recruited by Yuuto.

Aakriti: Yes, Bubbly Mikan is the best, but seeing as she lost her memory, and then lived with her mom for four years, the bubbly part of her went bye-bye. It might come back though.

Mash: You said to e-mail you when the new chapter was up, but I have no idea how to do that. (This isn't really a question... oh well)

Keirs: Yeah, it was kinda random and strange, but Ruka kept bugging him about it, and he was getting really worried about Natsume, and you know how Natsume gets when it comes to Ruka worrying about him. Also, Hiro is not that bad of a person. He's just a normal teenage boy who has a crush on Mikan...

I think that was all, even though one or two of them weren't unsigned. Sorry if I messed up your name somehow... Oh and also, Pyro-link has commented on my level of cussing, so I am going to cut it out as to not offend anybody. Anyway, thanks for reading this far. This chapter has quite a bit about Mei-li. Even though she is not in the original series, she is really important to this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own anybody in the original series. Or the original series.

* * *

"What's going on?" someone shouted angrily over a loud siren, to the people rushing outside the open door.

"Yuuto-sama's prisoner has escaped." a guard replied as he passed by the room. "Everyone is to remain in their current room until her location is definite."

The door three rooms down from the lab exploded, causing the guard to curse loudly. He turned around, only to be pushed aside by the escapee.

Mei-li glanced in the lab at the scientists who were cowering in fear. She grinned.

"Hey, Akira," she hissed. "you were right. I wasn't happy when I woke up." with that she took of down the now flaming hallway. Akira, one of the people in the lab, gasped at what she had said.

"How did she hear me?" she whispered to herself, trembling. _I should not have pissed her off so much yesterday._

Mei-li was on a mission to find the child. _It's his fault I'm in this place, and now I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!_ she thought venomously. She turned the corner and saw a door that was most likely that kid's office. She destroyed the door with one of her alices and proceeded to enter the room.

The child was looking facing the window behind his desk.

"You have caused me quite a lot of trouble, Mei-li." he hissed as he turned around.

"It's your own fault," she snapped back, "if you hadn't kidnapped me, none of this would of happened!"

The room began to heat up as the fire from the door caught onto the furniture and fabrics in the room. Flames licked up the sides of Mei-li's legs, but she ignored them, healing all of her wounds with her stolen healing alice.

"Why did you have to rebel." the kid asked suddenly. "We are working against the AAO, and Gakuen Alice, the two organizations that you are also against, and yet..." he shook his head.

"Who are you?" Mei-li whispered. The boy didn't say anything as the flames engulfed him.

Mei-li huffed and ran out of the room, coughing from all of the smoke.

The building was by now completely deserted, and it was quite simple for Mei-li to exit. Once she had, she surveyed her surroundings. It was twilight, on the outskirts of a city somewhere. Glancing back at the flaming building, she noticed fire-engines beginning to arrive. She sighed and ran into town.

_I can't believe I lost all of my stuff those freaks._ Mei-li thought angrily. There were quite a few people outside. Most likely, they were worried about the fire. _Well I guess I'll have to steal..._

Mei-li looked around and spotted a vulnerable person. She began to run and crashed into a man with a dark trench-coat.

"I'm so very sorry." Mei-li apologized as she pocketed his wallet. The man just grunted and ignored her. Sighing, she walked away. She began to ponder about where she would go. Soon, she thought of the perfect person.

"Where does she live again?" Mei-li muttered to herself. "Oh right. Tokyo."

"Next stop is Tokyo City." the conductor announced.

Mei-li woke with a start at the announcement. She had fallen asleep during the long train ride to Tokyo. Fortunately, she had managed to get new clothes, food, and a train ticket, but now all of her money was gone.

"It's going to take me forever." she whispered as she exited the train. "Heh, Tokyo hasn't changed much." Mei-li glanced around the station, looking for an exit.

She made her way to the closest one to her, and sighed with relief when she managed to escape the crowds. Now all she had to do was find the person she was looking for.

She walked through the crowds until she found a telephone booth. She slid in and opened the directory. After a quick look, she grinned, ripped out a page, and walked back towards the station.

_I found you._ She thought.

Three hours later, Mei-li arrived at a small house in a secluded neighborhood. She looked at the sheet of paper in her hands and sighed.

_Am I really doing the right thing?_ She wondered before jumping over the tiny fence. Slowly, she made her way to the front door and knocked. There were many loud crashes coming from inside before the door opened.

"I'm so sorry. I was cooking dinner and..." the woman who answered the door stopped talking when she saw who the visitor was.

"Mei-li..." she whispered.

Mei-li smiled. "Long time no see. Yuka-senpai."

Yuka stood in the doorway, stunned.

"What are you doing here!" She gasped. Mei-li smiled. It had been a long time since she had seen Yuka, and the woman hadn't changed much at all.

"Is that anyway to treat your kohai?" Mei-li asked innocently. Then she pushed past Yuka into the house. "It's been four years. Ever since you asked me to find..."

"Get out!" Yuka hissed, pointing towards the door. "Get out and stop interfering with my life." Mei-li just ignored her and took off her shoes.

"Where's Mikan?" she asked.

"They took her back to that school." Yuka growled angrily. "Now get out before I call the police!"

"Do you really hate me that much?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"You know perfectly well why."

"Who is it, Yuka?" someone from farther in the house called.

"Oh my. Is that Shiki-senpai?" Mei-li asked. Yuka narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Look, I was _not_ involved with anything that happened four years ago. So stop blaming me."

Yuka huffed and walked past Mei-li. "Fine. You can stay here, but if you get the AAO involved, you will regret ever coming here. I was finally able to get away from them. I don't want to go back."

_Still a pushover._ Mei-li thought, smiling. She followed Yuka farther into the room. It was a plain place. There were really no decorations. _I wonder why Senpai chose this place._

"What is she doing here?" Shiki asked when Mei-li entered the room.

"I'm allowing her to stay here for a little while. She has obviously escaped from somewhere and needs a place to hide." Yuka explained. Shiki nodded and stood up.

"I'm leaving." he called out. Mei-li observed Yuka intently.

_She is really observant._ "How did you know all of that?"

"You're too easy to read." Was all Yuka said. She walked into the kitchen to finish whatever she was doing before Mei-li arrived.

"Fine. Be that way."

"Oh yes, I expect you to get a job if you are going to stay here."

_WHAT!_

* * *

Natsume stood frozen. Had he heard correctly. Hiro was asking Mikan to go with him to the festival?!

"Uh... it's okay if you don't want to." Hiro said nervously.

_I wonder what her reply is going to be._ Natsume thought. He glanced over at the two. Mikan was facing away from him, and Hiro was looking down with a red face. _Tch. He's such a girly boy._

"I would love to go to the festival with you, Hiro-kun." Mikan said kindly. Natsume's heart sunk. He looked away from Mikan.

_Why? Why did this have to happen? _Natsume wondered _Why?_

"Bye, Hiro-kun! Have fun getting ready." Mikan's voice interrupted Natsume's thoughts. He sighed and stepped out from behind the building.

"Going on a date, little girl?" he asked in a teasing voice, even though it pained him to say it. Mikan spun around in shock.

"Hyuuga?! Wha-how... how long have you been there?" she screamed. Her brown eyes were wide with surprise and fury.

"Long enough to hear that you have a _date _with that kid." Natsume replied icily. He glared at Mikan, causing her to flinch.

"Why do you care anyway?" she hissed back. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at Natsume.

"I don't really care. I'm just wondering why you two were being all lovey-dovey in the middle of campus." Mikan smirked.

"We weren't You are just being an-"

"What are you two doing!" a voice screeched behind Natsume. He turned around only to see an angry Jinno walking towards them. "Class started ten minutes ago and I don't care if you two are in the dangerous class, you still need to be there!" He held up his electric wand and threatened to shock them.

Natsume immediately ran towards headquarters, Mikan close behind him. Finally they reached the building. Natsume gave one last look at Mikan. She was leaning over, exhausted from the run. Natsume huffed and walked inside the building.

"Hey, you guys are late!" a familiar voice accused. Natsume looked in the direction of the voice.

_Oh great, just the person I wanted to see,_ Natsume thought sarcastically. _Shadow. _

"Tsubasa-senpai!" Mikan exclaimed as she hurried up behind Natsume and Tsubasa. "Sorry, were you looking for me."

Tsubasa nodded. "Yeah. There's a meeting and if you guys don't show up you are going to get into a lot of trouble." Mikan sighed and looked away. Natsume clenched his fist.

"Oi! Shadow!" he called out. Tsubasa turned to look at him.

"What do you want?"

Natsume didn't respond. Instead he looked at Mikan. "I need to talk to Shadow. Scram." Mikan looked as if she was going to protest but the ends of her hair caught fire. _Crap, I hate doing this to her._

"Gyaaaah! I hate you Hyuuga!" Mikan screamed as she put out the fire. Huffing, she turned and walked away from the two boy.

"Was that really necessary?" Tsubasa inquired. Natsume shrugged. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"What are the missions Persona is forcing Mikan to do?" Natsume asked seriously. This seemed to take Tsubasa by surprise.

"How should I know?" he asked in confusion. "Mikan never says anything about it. Why?" Natsume ignored the last question and headed to the meeting room. "Hey wait up!" Tsubasa called after him.

Natsume finally reached the door. He opened it and the first thing he heard was, "NATSUME!" Somebody jumped on him, wrapping their arms around his neck.

"What the he..." Natsume stuttered, stumbling backwards.

"Sakura is being mean to me!" a whiny voice screamed in his ear. Natsume heard people laughing at him. Quickly, he shoved the girl off of him, causing her to land on her butt. He glared at Kokori angrily, lighting a small fire in the palm of his hand.

The entire room went silent at once when they noticed the flame floating above Natsume's palm.

"Natsume..." Kokori whimpered. Someone in the back of the room scoffed.

"Looks like Hyuuga can't control his _girlfriend_."

Natsume looked at the speaker. It was Mikan, still pissed at the fact that her hair had been burned. Next to her was Nobara. She was looking from Natsume to Mikan with a worried look on her face.

"Um... Mikan-chan, are you sure your okay?" the worried girl asked. Mikan nodded and turned back towards her friend.

Natsume clenched his fist in anger. _Crap. She is _really_ mad this time. _ He thought. He looked down at the pathetic girl still laying at his feet.

"Scram." he hissed. Kokori scrambled to her feet and ran over to one of her "followers."

"Wow, she sure is attached to you." Tsubasa said in disbelief as he walked in Mikan's general direction. Natsume sighed again and leaned against the wall next to the door, waiting for the meeting to start.

* * *

"I can't believe that brat!" Mikan growled as she attempted to fix her now burned hair. "What did he even want to talk to you about." she asked Tsubasa.

"Nothing of any importance." he mumbled.

_Yeah, right. _Mikan thought. She looked towards the door, wishing that Persona would never walk through it. She noticed Youichi walk up to Natsume, who had perched himself right next to the entrance.

"What does You-chan think of Hyuuga?" Mikan asked Nobara. Nobara shrugged and went back to creating little ice sculptures.

"You've gotten really good at controlling your alice." Tsubasa commented, causing Nobara to blush. Mikan smiled at her two friends.

"Persona's here!" someone called out. Right as he said that the door opened and Persona walked in.

"I'm very sorry I'm late." he said coldly, causing Mikan to shiver. "Let's get this meeting started, shall we?"

All of the students sat at the tables, and turned their attention towards the teacher.

"Now some of you may have heard of the new organization. The leader of this place is rumored to be an eleven year old boy. His alice is unknown." Mikan looked over at Tsubasa, confused as to where this was going. He shrugged.

"Now there is a problem. Someone has destroyed their entire headquarters, and the person is said to be associated with the AAO." Persona handed a folder to the person nearest him. "Your job for the next six days, is to make sure that none of the visitors are trying to destroy this school. Understood?"

Everyone nodded.

"Excellent. Koneko-chan, I need to see you."

Mikan gasped, her eyes wide with horror.

_Another mission!_ She followed Persona out of the room.

"I'm sure that you have guessed why I need you." He asked. Mikan nodded solemnly. He led her to a room in the building that was secluded from the rest. Inside the room was a table with a file folder on it, as well as everything Mikan would need. She grimaced as she picked up the folder and opened it.

"This is the man you need to find." Persona said. "Do what you need to."

Mikan nodded and got ready to leave.

"Oh yes," Persona said, "Natsume is going with you." Mikan dropped the clothes she was holding. She turned around in surprise.

"Why is he coming with me? I've never had anyone come with me before." she hissed. Persona smirked.

"Are you arguing with me?"

"No... I'm not."

"Good. Be at the meeting place at 5:30 tonight. And don't worry, you'll be back in time to go on your little 'date'." He laughed and walked out of the room. Mikan clenched her fists.

_Why is Hyuuga going with me., and how does Persona know about my conversation with Hiro-kun? _Tears filled her eyes but she brushed them away. _I hate that man. _She glanced at the clock in the room.

It was 2:07. Only three hours until the meeting. Mikan sighed and opened the door. She was surprised to see Tsubasa standing there.

"Hey. Come with me for a while." he said. Without waiting for an answer, he turned around and walked off. Mikan shrugged and followed him silently. They walked out of headquarters and headed towards the forest.

"Um... Senpai, where are we going?" Mikan asked after they had walked for a while.

"We're just going to see an old friend of mine. You'll like him." he replied, and then added in an undertone, "I hope."

Mikan giggled. Soon they came to a clearing with a log house in the center. Next to the log house was a bear. A stuffed bear. Who was moving.

The bear slowly turned his head around, his black eyes shining, waiting for a fight. Mikan took a step back.

"What is that!" she screamed. The bear took a fighting stance and was about to charge when Tsubasa grabbed him.

"Now, now, Bear. Let's not hurt Mikan. In fact, let's have tea." the bear calmed down and Tsubasa placed him on the ground. "I'll explain inside." he told Mikan. She just stood there.

Bear opened the door to the cabin and walked inside, Tsubasa following him. Mikan hesitantly entered the small house. Inside, there was only a small table and a bed.

"Come on and sit down, Mikan." Tsubasa said, patting the chair next to him. Mikan lowered herself into the chair while Bear began to serve tea.

"So what is this place?" Mikan asked quietly. Tsubasa sighed.

"Well you see, I had a friend, who could create stuffed animals and make them come to life. His name was Kaname."

"You talking about him like he's dead... Oh."

Tsubasa lowered his head. "Yeah, Kaname died about two years ago from his alice. You know about the different kinds of alice spans, right." Mikan nodded so Tsubasa continued. "Well, Kaname had the kind that slowly killed you every time he used it. It also didn't help that he had a very weak body to begin with." He glanced at Bear who had finished serving tea and was sitting on Tsubasa's lap.

"Bear here was his first creation, so he is really important to all of Kaname's old friends."

Mikan began to cry. "Are there a lot of students with alices like that?"

Tsubasa shrugged. "The only other person that I can tell you for sure is like that is Natsume."

Mikan gasped. "Really, Hyuuga has that type?" Tsubasa nodded.

"Yeah, haven't you noticed that he coughs and goes to the hospital a lot?" Mikan shook her head and felt guilty.

_I guess I shouldn't have been so mean to him. _

"Kaname gave us a message to give to you." Tsubasa said, changing the subject. Mikan looked at him surprised.

"He knew me?"

"Oh yeah. You were friends with him before you lost your memory." he replied. "He told us to tell you that if you ever came back, that you are to 'watch over Bear'."

Mikan didn't say anything as she looked out the window. It was beginning to get dark so she stood up.

"It was nice talking to you, Senpai, but I have to go." She turned to leave when Tsubasa called out;

"What are your missions like?"

Mikan didn't answer. She opened the door and ran to the high school dorms, leaving Tsubasa and Bear behind.

* * *

Natsume leaned against a tree, waiting for Persona and Mikan to show up. He was really unhappy about the circumstances of the mission. Basically what he had to do was sneak Mikan into a building so that she can complete the mission. This meant that Natsume was to wait outside while Mikan was in danger.

Not exactly the kind of thing that he wanted to do on a daily basis.

"And I thought I was early." a voice said. Natsume turned around, hiding his grin, and saw Mikan. She was wearing a black shirt and pants that wouldn't get in the way while running or climbing. She had put her hair in a high ponytail, and she was carrying a small bag.

Natsume looked away from her and shrugged. "Is there anything wrong with being early, little girl?" he asked. Mikan huffed.

"Of course not. I just figured that you were going to be late. Like you are for everything else." she retorted. "And stop calling me a little girl!"

"Well you should stop calling that Kokori girl my girlfriend."

"Then you should stop acting like it." they argued like that until Persona showed up. He seemed to be amused by the teenagers actions.

"You two need to stop arguing if you want to survive this mission." he stated calmly, but with amusement in his voice.

They stopped arguing at once.

"There has been a change of plans. Natsume, you will escort Mikan until she reaches her target, after that, you will make sure that no one enters the room. Understand."

Natsume and Mikan nodded.

"Good. Mikan go on ahead. Natsume, I need a word with you." Mikan sighed and began to walk toward the exit.

"What now." Natsume asked angrily, though he was relieved that he would be with Mikan for most of the time.

"You seem to be keeping your promise quite well." Persona observed. "It must be hard for you. Seeing the 'woman you love' as you put it, suffering and drifting away from you."

Natsume said nothing. He turned and began to walk away.

"Bring her back safely, Kuro-neko."

_I hate him so much. He is just mocking me. _Natsume thought angrily. He walked over to where Mikan was. She was waiting for him, leaning against the fence with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh. You finally decided to show up." Mikan said angrily.

Natsume just shrugged and opened the door that led outside.

A few hours later, the two arrived at the place where the mission was to take place, only to find most of it burned to ashes.

"What happened here?" Mikan asked quietly. Natsume didn't respond, irritating the girl next to him. "Oi... I asked you what you think happened!"

Ignoring Mikan, Natsume carefully began to walk down the nearly invisible path that led to the destroyed mansion. Behind him, Mikan huffed, but began to follow.

The two walked silently for a little ways before Mikan re-asked the question.

_Can't this girl be quiet for more than two minutes!_ Natsume wondered, irritated. "I don't know, now where is this room supposed to be?" he asked, attempting to control his frustration.

"If you don't know, then let me lead." Mikan quipped. She was obviously losing her temper, much to Natsume's delight. Mikan brushed past him, and walked quickly down the pathway.

Eventually, they entered what was left of the entryway. Everything was covered in black soot and dust. This house had obviously been abandoned long ago, and any object that would have value would be worth nothing at this point.

Natsume couldn't quite figure out what Persona had sent him here for, but he didn't dare ask Mikan in her current state. She didn't seem to want to talk about her missions, and if he asked, she could abandon him, and get hurt.

Mikan seemed to know where she was going, even if Natsume was as confused as possible. Not only was he confused, but every step he took was causing dust to get into his lungs, and in his condition that was not a good thing at all.

Suddenly, Mikan came to a stop in front of the only intact door that Natsume had seen. He was not expecting this and crashed into her.

"Watch where you're going!" she hissed angrily before opening the door. What was inside surprised Natsume.

The walls were covered in some sort of metal, most likely steel, and it was clean. In the middle of the room, was a hospital like bed. Laying under the covers was an old man. He was awake, and watching Mikan and Natsume intently, almost as if he hadn't seen a human being in years. From the state of the building, Natsume wouldn't be surprised if that were true.

"So what are we doing here?" he asked quietly. Mikan ignored him and walked forward. Natsume scowled, but followed.

"Mei-li? Is that you?" the old man called out in a hoarse voice.

_Mei-li. Mei-li. Now where have I heard that before. _Natsume pondered. He didn't have to wait long. The old man started speaking again.

"It's been so long. I haven't heard from you since you said that the organization was after you." he began coughing. Mikan and Natsume exchanged glances.

"What are you talking about Akito-san?" Mikan asked in a voice that wasn't hers. The man, Akito, chuckled.

"You know what I'm talking about Mei-li. The organization that is against the school and AAO. What did you call it again, um... oh right, IHS."

Natsume's eyes widened. This was the same group that Persona had told them about. This couldn't be a coincidence.

"Oh right. Thank you for reminding me." Mikan said. Natsume detected fear in her voice. Akito smiled at her.

"You seem different Mei-li. Almost like your old partner, Yuka."

At this, Mikan gasped. That was the wrong thing to do.

"Wait a minute. You're not my granddaughter. Who are you?" the man shouted, sitting up.

"I'm sorry sir." was all Mikan said before closing the distance between her and Akito and touching his shoulder. In her hand, appeared a stone.

_Wow, what an idiot I am. Of course that's what her missions would be about. Stealing others' alices. _

Akito gasped, and the entire room changed. The metal walls dissolved into normal laboratory ones. Desks and tables appeared out of nowhere. The only thing that stayed the same was the man and the bed he was in.

"Guards! Help! There are intruders! Help!" he screamed in a horse voice.

"Run." Mikan exclaimed, heading towards the door. She wrenched it open, and Natsume was very surprised at the change.

The remains of the burned down building was long gone. Now, it looked as though it were some sort of warehouse mixed with a military base. There were people everywhere, and they seemed surprised to see Mikan standing in the doorway of Akito's room. Before they could react, Natsume grabbed Mikan's wrist and tore down the hallway.

"Care to explain what is going on!" he hissed at her.

"Akito is a very prominent part of the AAO. He is able to distort space, and make things look like what ever he wants." Mikan began to explain. "What we saw earlier was all just an illusion. All of those people have been here the whole time, oblivious to us. It's really hard to tell you while we are running!"

Natsume just nodded. They turned a corner, only to be stopped by a group of armed men. The all had their guns pointed at the two intruders.

"Don't move!" one of them commanded.

* * *

Mikan cursed under her breath. They had come so far, only to be caught.

"Oi, when I say so, run." Natsume whispered. Mikan looked at him confused. "Now!"

A blast of fire exploded from nowhere, causing the men to jump back. Mikan took off. She headed towards the exit, not bothering to make sure her partner was behind her. She looked around. What was once only an illusion, was becoming reality.

The building had caught fire from Natsume's alice, and the place was falling down all around Mikan.

"What are you doing? Don't stop!" Natsume shouted from behind her.

Mikan turned around. For some reason, everything seemed to slow down. The fire, being chased, it reminded her of something. Her head throbbed. Natsume had caught up to her by now.

"Hey. Keep moving."

That last sentence echoed in Mikan's head, and she collapsed.

_Not this again! _She thought.

_Mikan watched the scene before her. _

_She, Natsume, and Sumire were in a storage room. Natsume seemed as though he were in a lot of pain, as he seemed to be having trouble. He had just thrown a pipe at a man who was talking to them. Mikan recognized him as The famous singer, Reo. _

"_Don't tell me... he still has enough power to retaliate? Was this intended to protect those two?" he asked, amused. He reached forward and grabbed Natsume's arm. "As you wish, I'll change my target."_

_The scene changed, now the younger Mikan was running towards Natsume. He was standing in the doorway, his hand was on fire._

I remember this!_ Mikan thought_ Reo had kidnapped Hyuuga and Sumire and I followed after him.

_Mikan watched herself tackle Natsume. She couldn't hear anything this time though, but she know what she was saying. _

_It changed again. Now she was dressed in Arabian style clothing, and was outside of a maze, talking to Natsume. Or more like yelling at him. _

_The length of time between the scenes was getting shorter. _

_There she was, dancing with Ruka. Then, she was talking with Natsume, fireworks flashing in the background. Soon, Mikan saw herself riding a bird, trying to escape the boundaries of Gakuen Alice. _

_Running around in the high school building._

_Talking with Ruka, and then with Natsume near a moonlit pond. _

_A robotic penguin getting Ruka and Tsubasa drunk. _

_A dungeon with a strange skeleton. _

_And finally, her mother. _

_All went black.

* * *

_

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please review....

im serious....

no seriously, review....

is it really that hard?


	7. Chapter 7

So i finally got this chap done. YAY for no more writers block! However, its still not edited. My sis couldnt come over today but since i havent updated in a while i figured, why make them wait... so yeah anyway ill get the edited version up ASAP. So untill then, rxr!

* * *

Natsume watched the sleeping girl in front of him. He wondered why she had collapsed for no apparent reason. She had been fine for the entire time.

What was going on?

The fire flickered slightly, and rain continued to fall outside. Currently, Natsume and Mikan were in a cave, a few miles away from the strange house.

Natsume looked out the cave entrance.

_If it doesn't stop raining soon, Mikan and I are going to be here for another night. _

It had been three days since Mikan had passed out, and it had also been raining for that amount of time. Sighing, Natsume took the stick laying next to him, and jabbed it into the fire.

Sparks flew out, a few landing on Mikan's face. She stirred. Natsume looked up at her as she groaned and sat up.

"You're finally awake, huh."

Mikan looked over at him, but the sudden movement seemed to have made her dizzy. She clutched her head and lay back down.

"I wouldn't move if I were you. You have been out cold for three days." he stopped poking at the fire. "Care to explain what happened?"

Mikan turned her head towards him and glared.

"Not until you tell me where we are and how we got out of that building."

Natsume scowled.

_She's being an idiot again._

"Fine."

Natsume didn't say anything after that.

"Um... I'm still waiting." Mikan huffed impatiently. Natsume looked over at her.

"After you collapsed, the guards caught up with us... I was somehow able to get you out of the burning building, but not before we both got injured by those men."

Mikan was listening intently, but she was also examining her body. She had multiple bruises, and her clothes were covered in blood, but nothing seemed to hurt.

"What happened after you got away?" Mikan asked.

"Nothing really. I found this place, and it started to rain, so we have been here ever since. If you're hungry, there is some fruit over there."

Mikan suddenly realized how hungry she was. Carefully, she reached over to the corner of the cave and picked up an apple.

"You didn't get very much." she criticized, looking at the pitiful pile of fruit.

Natsume scowled but didn't say anything.

For a while, neither of them spoke. It was an eerie silence, filled only by the sound of the heavy rain.

After a while, Natsume spoke.

"So are you going to tell me what happened to you, or not?"

Mikan sighed. "Fine. As you know, I lost my memory, but whenever I got close to remembering something, I would always collapse."

Natsume gave her a startled look.

"So you were about to remember something?" he asked, trying to hide the hope in his voice.

"I wasn't finished." Mikan grumbled. "Ever since I've come back here, I have been getting these memory spells, where I actually know things about before I was eleven."

Natsume watched her intensely.

_She might actually stop hating me. If she remembers everything that happened..._

Mikan shook her head. "The first time, I was in this room. Suddenly, I got dizzy, and saw myself in the same room. But I was younger, and I wasn't wearing the uniform. You were also there, and you pinned me to the couch for some reason. You also called me polka – dot something or rather."

Natsume snorted. That was the first time he had met Mikan, the first time he had known someone who wasn't afraid of him.

Mikan ignored Natsume and continued.

"Before that, I had dreams. I still have them occasionally, but the intervals between them have gotten farther. It starts out when I am in a dark room, crying. The strange thing is, I can see myself in the dream, almost as it it is a movie." she sighed, "Anyway, I am crouched in a corner sobbing. I am a mess. All of my clothes are destroyed, my hair is cut in different lengths, and I look as if I've been there for days."

Slowly, Mikan stands up and starts to pace around.

"Suddenly, the room lights up, and someone entered. It's a boy with black hair and crimson eyes. Then I scream."

Natsume followed her with his eyes, not knowing what to say. She remembered him, but not really. Before he could come up with something to say, Mikan started talking again.

"I've never told my mom about this, in fact, I don't even know why I'm talking about this. In any case, it doesn't stop there."

"The next time it happened, I was sitting in the classroom, when you burst in, wearing that cat mask. I think I fainted after that. But what I saw in my vision thing, was almost an exact replica of what had happened minutes before. It was kinda like ___déjà vu."_

She stopped walking and sat down.

It's almost as if she has wanted to tell this to someone for a long time, but was never able too. Natsume figured.

Mikan was still talking.

"And just now, I saw a multitude of things. It started out when Reo had kidnapped you, then moved to some kind of festival. After that, I saw something about a penguin, and Hotaru getting hurt. It finally ended with me seeing my mother." There were tears in Mikan's eyes. She curled up into a ball and began to cry.

"What's wrong with me?"

* * *

A few hours had passed since Mikan had spilled her secret, and her eyes hurt from crying.

Across from her, Natsume was leaning against the cave wall. He hadn't said anything at all since she started to cry, and Mikan was afraid that Natsume thought she was a freak.

Hyuuga probably hates me even more now. Why did I have to tell him all of those things?

She clasped her hands, and rested her head against them. She was about to drift off, when Natsume spoke.

"The rain's finally letting up. Are you done crying?"

Mikan nodded and wiped the final tears away from her eyes.

Natsume put out the fire and exited the cave. Mikan followed him, and felt refreshed. The air had that musky rain smell to it, and all of the trees and plants were covered with tiny droplets of water.

Mikan inhaled deeply. She had a feeling that her friends were worried about her, and tried to clam down, so she didn't freak them out.

It took a whole day for Mikan and Natsume to make their way back to the hidden school entrance. When they got there, Persona was waiting for them.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." he said smirking. "Was the mission successful?_"_

"No." Mikan quickly replied, before Natsume could say anything. "When we got there, guards were waiting for us. It seems that they were somehow tipped off that some of us were going to be there."

Persona gave Mikan a hard look before turning back towards the entrance.

"If you say so."

Mikan sighed and followed Persona. She could hear Natsume behind her, and she knew that he was confused as to why she had lied to her teacher, but Mikan had had no choice. It was either step up and try to put an end to all of the nonsense in this school, or give in, and hand over one of the most dangerous alices known.

It was night, so Mikan decided to head straight to her room to take a shower. However, when she opened the door, she was surprised to see a figure sitting on her bed.

"So," an icy voice hissed. "Did you decide that you could avoid me?"

Mikan froze. Had she done something wrong. She flipped on the light switch, and saw Hotaru.

"I've been back for three days. _Three days!_ Where have you been!"

Mikan grimaced. "Apparently, I was unconscious, in a cave, hours away from the city."

Hotaru narrowed her eyes, closed them, then sighed.

"I guess there's no helping it. You're still an idiot." She looked up and smiled evilly. "I heard that you have a date tomorrow." she taunted.

Mikan blushed. "It's not a date. Now can you please get out of my room? I want to go to bed!"

Hotaru sighed again and stood up.

"What ever. See you tomorrow."

Mikan watched her retreating back, before collapsing onto her bed and falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

Unfortunately for Natsume, he had the same thing happen to him when he entered his room.

Ruka was on his bed. He looked as though he had had almost no sleep in the past couple of days. Dark rings were under his eyes, and he was petting a sleeping rabbit.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You and Sakura-san have been gone for days. The whole class is worried about you guys!"

Natsume rolled his eyes.

"We're fine. Mikan just fainted and was unconscious for a few days."

"I see... Wait! Did you just call her 'Mikan'?"

Natsume froze. Ruka watched him, but didn't say anything.

"Must have been a slip of the tongue." Natsume murmured in a horrible attempt to hide his feelings.

Ruka shook his head.

"Admit it, you want to call her that, too her face."

Natsume turned to look at his friend.

"No. No I don't. Now get out."

Ruka let out a laugh and exited the room before Natsume got really mad.

As soon as he left, Natsume collapsed on his bed coughing. The three days spent taking care of Mikan had hurt his health badly. He had done an excellent job hiding it from Mikan though.

Tomorrow was the first day of the festival, and the day that Mikan was going to be going out with that Hiro guy.

The thought made him feel worse.

Natsume reached over to his bedside table and opened the drawer. Inside were two alice stones. One was from Hotaru's older brother, and the other was a small orange stone that Mikan had given him four years ago. He reached in, and grabbed the healing stone.

As soon as it activated, he felt better.

After putting the stone back, he lay down on his bed, and was soon asleep.

* * *

"Mikan-chan! Hurry up!" Anna called from outside Mikan's room.

Mikan laughed at Anna's impatience. It had only been five minutes since the excited cook had pounded on Mikan's door, waking her up.

She finished getting dressed and brushed out her hair. Finally she opened the door.

Anna, Nonoko, and Hotaru were all waiting outside the room, looking extremely bored.

"Geez! What took you so long!" Anna cried in a whiny voice.

"It wasn't that long." Hotaru said. She was leaning up against the wall, tinkering with one of her inventions. "We've only been out here for about ten minutes."

"That's right," Nonoko added. "It takes you so much longer to get ready." The girls laughed.

"Sorry Anna." Mikan said sweetly. "I'll be faster next time."

"Yay!"

Hotaru stood up.

"I've waited long enough. I have something to do. Bye."

She walked down the hallway, still working on her device.

"Where is she going?" Mikan asked. "She told me that all of her items were completed."

"They are." Nonoko said. "You didn't know that Hotaru is the vice – president of the student body?"

Mikan looked at Nonoko. "No, I didn't. She never mentioned it before."

"Well, she is. That's were she is going, to get ready for the opening."

"Oh."

Mikan looked down the hall where Hotaru had disappeared.

_I wish she had told me._

"Are you coming, Mikan?" Anna called.

"Yeah!"

Mikan followed the girls outside. They walked towards the main part of the academy, where the opening ceremony was going to take place.

Mikan marveled at the sight of the grounds. There were students everywhere building sets, dressed in strange outfits, and hurrying to finish everything.

Mikan was so excited for the day, but the memory of the mission still lingered in her mind. She reached up to her neck and felt the stone that she had stolen from the man. It was a strange green color and was cold no matter what Mikan did to it.

Eventually, the group reached the place that the student body president was to give a speech.

"Who is the president?" Mikan asked.

"Wow, you have been here for quite a while and you still don't know?" Anna said.

Mikan rolled her eyes. "Don't lecture me, I don't pay that much attention to these things."

"Okay then. I guess we should tell you, but we won't" Nonoko teased. Mikan glared at her friends.

"Why not?"

Nonoko and Anna exchanged glances and laughed.

They continued walking, Mikan having given up, followed suit.

When they finally got to the area where the ceremony was to take place, Mikan gasped. She had never quite realized how many students actually attended Gakuen Alice. There was almost no room in the small area for anyone else to come, and yet somehow, no one seemed to be uncomfortable.

"Wow." Mikan whispered in awe.

"We should just stay up here." Anna said, plopping down on the soft grass. Nonoko followed suit, but Mikan was still too surprised to do anything.

"I – I didn't realize that there were that many students in this school." she muttered. The only people that she knew were the ones in her homeroom, Tsubasa, and Nobara. None of the students in the dangerous class seemed to want to be affiliated with Mikan, and since she was in that class, others didn't want to talk to her either.

"Come on Mikan, sit down!" Anna invited, patting the grass next to her. Mikan slowly sank to the ground, her eyes still fixed on the crowd below them. She was barely listening to her friends chatting as the time went on.

Not long after they had sat down, two familiar people walked onto the stage. Mikan's jaw dropped.

"Yuu!" she exclaimed. Anna and Nonoko laughed beside her.

"Yep!" Nonoko giggled. "Ever since we entered high school. He's amazing."

Mikan was speechless. It amazed her how little she still knew about this school, even though she had been here for quite a while now.

Anna and Nonoko talked throughout the entire ceremony, but Mikan just watched. It wasn't long before she noticed the class representatives sitting in the chairs near the Headmasters.

She scanned through them, and her eyes rested on the last one in the line.

Natsume.

* * *

_Finally,_ Natsume thought, _this stupid ceremony is over, now I can go relax in peace._

He trotted away from the stand, hoping that nothing bad would happen.

Unfortunately, his luck is terrible.

"Oi, Hyuuga!"

Natsume flinched as he heard the cold voice of Hotaru.

He turned slowly, awaiting her wrath.

"What's this I hear? You caused Mikan to be unconscious for three days! What is wrong with you!"

"I didn't do anything." Natsume said calmly. "She fainted for some reason and didn't wake up again for three days. Not my problem."

He tried to walk away but was blasted by Hotaru's Baka gun.

"I don't believe you."

"Obviously." Natsume muttered. Louder he commented, "If you want to blame someone, go yell at Persona. He's the one who made her go on that stupid mission." He walked away before Hotaru could say anything.

Natsume walked slowly around campus, hoping to finally get some sleep. Between Ruka and Persona, he hasn't been able to sleep for quite a while, and it was catching up to him. Finally, he found a nice place where no one seemed to be and lay down.

He closed his eyes and let the sleep wash over him.

It was getting dark when Natsume finally opened his eyes. He sat up and stretched, feeling refreshed after his nap.

"You take forever to wake up." someone commented beside him. Natsume jumped and looked over, seeing Ruka leaning against a tree.

Natsume scowled and lay back down. He was in no mood to talk to Ruka at the moment. In fact, he didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Sakura-san had fun today."

Natsume tried to ignore his friend.

"Hiro seems to be nice. It's almost as if she is falling for him."

However, he was finding it difficult.

"She looked as though she was lonely. I don't think that you should have stayed here all day."

Natsume sat up and glared at his friend.

"Will you shut up!" he growled. "I don't care about that girl, nor do I care about that Hiro kid!" Ruka just smirked.

"Sure you don't. That's why you are always watching her in class, and fidgeting when she comes near." he began to laugh, but stopped immediately when the ground next to him caught on fire. Natsume sighed.

"What do you want."

"Nothing."

"I'm serious..."

"So am I."

"Ruka..."

"Look, Natsume, _I_ don't want anything, but it's obvious that _you_ want Sakura-san, and I don't want to see you get hurt again."

Natsume didn't say anything to this. He didn't know what to say.

"Well," Ruka began slowly, "I think we should head back to the dorms. The festival is over for today." He stood up and began to walk away. Natsume watched his back, still pondering what he had said, and eventually followed.

* * *

"Mikan!"

Mikan turned to see who was calling her and saw Anna running towards her.

"Mikan, Mikan, Mikan, Mikan! Come on! We have to get ready for the dance tonight!" Mikan smiled. The past two days had been a lot of fun, but now it was time for the last night.

Everyone had told her about the magical last dance, and how who ever you danced with you would be with forever.

Of course, Mikan doubted this, but she could never know in this school. She had discovered that anything is possible.

"I'm coming Anna." she said sweetly. "What are we going to wear?"

"Well, as high school students, we are allowed to wear what ever we want, so I asked Shinai to sew something for us!"

Anna grabbed Mikan's wrist and began to drag her towards the dorms.

"Come on! We need to hurry!"

"Anna, it's not that important." Mikan laughed. "We have all day to get ready."

"You might, but Nonoko, Hotaru and I have other things to do, so this is the only time we can help you."

_Right, they have to do somethings to get ready for the dance. I would hate that. _

"Okay, okay. I'll come quietly."

"Yay!"

Mikan stepped out of the bathroom, unsure of how she felt about the outfit. It was a long, satin, crimson dress that sparkled in the lights of Mikan's room. She sighed and began to wonder why Shinai had made her dress red. It's not like she looked good in this color or anything.

Not only that, but it reminded her of Natsume's gorgeous eyes...

She shook her head violently at the thought.

_Bad. Baaad Mikan. Hyuuga does NOT have gorgeous eyes!_

She looked around. Her three friends had to leave not long after they had forced her into the dress and done her hair. She glanced in the mirror and sighed.

As much fun as she had had these past few days, she was beginning to wish that she wasn't going to the dance with Hiro. She only thought of him as a friend while he... seemed to be more interested.

Mikan sighed and walked to the window. It was getting to be the time where she had to leave.

She opened the door and walked out. The dorm halls were empty, as most of the people were already down by the bonfire. Mikan could see the magnificent fire from the windows of the hallways, and she was excited to get down there.

When she finally exited the building, she was greeted by Hiro.

"Hi, Mikan-chan." he said happily.

"Hello, Hiro."

"Are you ready to go?"

Mikan hesitated. As much as she wanted to go, she really wanted to go alone. Finally, she nodded and followed Hiro to the bonfire.

The entire school was there, dancing and having fun. It was hard to maneuver around the couples and groups of friends.

The dancing was fun. So many people wanted to dance with Mikan that she was tired by the time she was able to get away from the crowded area, she was tired enough to fall asleep.

She sat down at a table, hoping to get something to eat when she spotted Hotaru dancing with Ruka. At first her eyes just slid over them. Then her brain registered what she had just seen.

Hotaru was dancing with Ruka? Since when was she compassionate enough to dance with a boy?

Mikan shook her head, trying to ignore this. She really didn't know that much about Hotaru, so for all she knew, Hotaru could have a soft side to her.

Mikan snorted at this idea.

She tried hard not to laugh so that no one would pay attention to her. She had had enough people after her tonight.

She sat back in her chair and scanned the crowed again. This time, she saw Hiro weaving his way around the other students, heading towards her. Quickly, she stood up and hurried into the woods nearby.

She really didn't want to see Hiro at the moment. As she hurried down the path in the trees, the sounds of the night began to mute out the ones of the festival. Mikan closed her eyes and slowed to a walk, listening to all of the beautiful forest sounds.

Sighing, she opened her eyes and stopped in a small clearing. She looked around her peacefully, admiring the moonlit trees around her. Her peace was shattered however, by a dark voice;

"So, not enjoying the dancing, little girl?"

Mikan froze and turned around angrily.

"What do you want Hyuuga?" she hissed venomously. Natsume just smirked.

"You look good in that color. I'm surprised you chose it. Doesn't crimson remind you of that boy from your nightmares?"

"Stop it!"

"Why should I?"

"Because I said so. I am in no mood to deal with you tonight Hyuuga." she took a dangerous step forward, nearly closing the gap between the two.

"Then why don't you run away?"

Mikan clenched her teeth.

"Mikan-chan?" someone called. Mikan turned at the sound of her name, grateful for once that Hiro was coming. She opened her mouth to respond but instead was yanked back into the shadows of the trees.

"Hyuuga! What are you -" Natsume cut her off, covering her mouth with his hand. He didn't say anything. Mikan began to struggle, a mistake on her part. Natsume pressed her up against the nearest tree.

"Stay quiet." he hissed, looking back into the clearing. Mikan narrowed her eyes and dug her nails into her captors arms. He let out a gasp of paid, removing his hand from her face.

"Don't touch me!" she whispered. "I hate you!" she began to struggle again. She looked up at Natsume and was surprised to see him sad. He was looking down, his hair covering his eyes, but she could see that he was upset at something. She started to talk but was silenced again.

This time, by a kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

So yeah... I've been working on the rewrite but I also wanted to continue the story so I wrote this one... of course it's shorter than all the rest duet to the fact that finals are coming up but I tried.

So anyway, I wanted to keep all of you happy with this though I don't know if I will succed. Like all of my other stories, I am unhappy with this one, especially this chapter. So of course I want your opinion. That means review.... seriously. If you have time to read over 62 pages, over 27,512 words, you can write a small one sentence review.... thank you.

I would also like to ask that you read and review my other stories as well. If you like this one, most likely you will like my others. I would also like to tell you that I do have a fictionpress account that has two of my original stories and I would love it if you would go check those out. Thanks ^.^

~Sunechirei

* * *

The best way to shut a girl up is to kiss her.

Natsume couldn't recall who had told him that or why as he kissed the girl he held in his arms, but whoever it was certainly knew what they were talking about. Though shutting Mikan up wasn't the only reason for this kiss. There was also the jealousy, the pain, the lust, a lot of things.

Finally Natsume pulled away from Mikan, not sure how she would react. She stood there, staring at him with a blank look in her eyes, her face flushed red from embarrassment.

Natsume backed away from her. It was pointless to keep her there now as Hiro had run off when he had gotten no answer from Mikan so Natsume figured that he would just let her go back to the party.

He turned to walk away when Mikan called out to him. Turning he looked into her eyes and saw some kind of recognition there.

"You... what was that for?"

Natsume shrugged. "Who knows."

"You do."

"Don't be so sure of that little girl. I do a lot of things for reasons I don't know." He walked away again but this time Mikan didn't stop him. She followed him. "What do you want?"

"This reminds me of something."

Natsume stopped suddenly and Mikan crashed into him.

"What?" he turned to face Mikan again.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I was talking to you and there were fireworks going, like right now."

It was true. Bright explosions lit up the part of the forest that Mikan and Natsume were talking. It was just like the time Natsume had called Mikan by her first name.

"Go back to the dance." Natsume said quietly.

"I will, if you come with me."

Natsume smirked at her request. "I thought you hated me?"

"I- I don't..." Mikan muttered. "You know that dream I told you about?" Natsume nodded. He couldn't get that memory out of his head. "Well, I can't help but think that you're the boy."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, Hotaru told me that we used to be close, back when I was in the academy as a ten year old. I didn't want to believe her then, and you certainly didn't help with the way you treated me, but now... I'm not so sure."

Mikan looked away.

"What do you want me to say?" Natsume asked.

"Why did you kiss me?"

"I already told yo-"

"Please, just tell me." She made eye contact with him, her eyes pleading for an answer.

Natsume scowled. "I guess tonight's not your lucky night. I'm not telling you anything." He turned and headed back towards the dorms, tired of trying to hide things from Mikan.

"Hey! Natsume!"

Natsume froze. He turned slowly to find Mikan covering her mouth in shock, her eyes wide.

"I'm- I'm sorry. I don't know why..." her face flushed pink. "I don't know what came over me."

"Don't call me by my first name."

Natsume began to run, not caring if Mikan followed him. He needed to get away from her before he snapped.

The branches of the forest whipped at his clothing, shredding the arms and legs into nothing but scraps. Finally, made it to the dorms, exhausted. His thoughts centered around Mikan as he burst into his room and collapsed onto his bed.

_Before, school was hell. _

_Then she came. She saved me, and Ruka too. She saved us, she was our light. I loved her._

_The more I got to know her, the more I realized that she could save me, that I had to protect her from everything._

_She was loud and obnoxious, but maybe that's why I wanted to get closer to her. She saved my life._

_When she found about my missions she cried for me._

_When she cried for me, I fell for her more._

_I couldn't protect her, the one I loved. They took her away and hurt her. Because of me._

_She left, not even knowing who I was, scared of everything around her. _

_After, school was hell._

_But she came back, four years later, though as a different person. I was surprised. _

_She was beautiful, confident, collected and calm. I hardly recognized her. _

_However, the longer I was around her, the more I noticed how little she had changed. _

_I still failed to save her. _

_Do I have any right to be around her now? Should I continue to follow her, or should I let her get on with her life? _

_"I... this hand... this hand that brought you out of there... I don't want to give this hand of yours to someone else. If only I had the power... in this instant... I want to become an adult so that I can bring you out and run away with you."_

_"Me too."_

The next morning came, bringing with it a massive headache. Natsume lay in bed, his hands covering his eyes, not sure if he wanted to brave the classes or go to the hospital to make sure he wasn't getting more sick.

In the end he decided to do neither. He wanted to stay in bed that day and have nothing to do with teacher, students, or _her._

Of course, the rest of the world didn't agree with Natsume's choice, and it wasn't long before someone knocked on his door.

He groaned and rolled out of bed to see who it was.

Ruka.

"What do you want?" he snapped, opening his door.

Ruka smirked. "I never thought I would see you lazing in bed."

"What do you want?"

"I was just wondering where you were last night, but I guess that's not really important. I'll just let you go to sleep."

"It doesn't matter anymore. I might at well go with you."

Ruka laughed and waited outside while Natsume got ready for the day. He came out of his room and the two headed towards their classroom.

"Why they have us go to school the day after the festival ends will always be a mystery to me." Ruka commented. Natsume just nodded. He was in no mood to say anything.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. When they finally reached the classroom, they spotted Kokori standing in the doorway waiting for them.

"Natsume, where were you last night. I wanted to dance with you." she whined. Natsume shuddered at the sound of her voice and kept walking.

For the first time, Kokori seemed to understand that Natsume couldn't stand her and she backed away.

"That's not odd at all." Ruka whispered as he watched Kokori's retreating back.

"I don't care how odd it is as long as she doesn't bug me." Natsume replied. He continued into the room and looked around. To his surprise, he saw Hotaru, but not Mikan. Hotaru was sitting alone, looking like a dejected puppy until she saw Natsume. Her expression changed from one of sorrow, to anger.

She stormed over to Natsume and Ruka. No one dared get in her path.

"What did you do to Mikan?"

Natsume sighed. "I did nothing."

"Oh really. So that fact that she's in the hospital, unconscious, has nothing to do with you?"

Natsume was shocked to hear this.

"She's what?" he hissed. Hotaru seemed to be satisfied with his confusion because she calmed down and crossed her arms.

"Last night she came stumbling into the dance area, her eyes red from tears. When I tried to ask her what happened she muttered your name, first name I might add, and collapsed. What. The. Hell. Happened?"

Natsume didn't stay long enough to answer. He bolted out of the room, not caring what people thought. It didn't take him long to make it to the hospital, but the run had caused his body to act up.

Before he could make it into the hospital building, his body gave out and he collapsed on the wall next to him, his breathing labored, a taste of blood in the back of his throat.

He heard footsteps behind him and identified them as Ruka and Hotaru's. He guessed that neither of them had thought he would have run out like that. When they saw Natsume's condition, the two of them began to cause a ruckus, bringing a few nurses out.

The next thing Natsume knew he was in a hospital bed with a oxygen mask and an IV hanging from his arm. He passed out.

It was three days before the doctors would release Natsume from the hospital, though it didn't matter. Mikan was in a coma.

* * *

Mei-li trudged through the bright city streets. She was beginning to wish that she hadn't sought out Yuka, but she knew that she needed to if she wanted to find what she was looking for.

The search however, had not been going well.

Sighing, Mei-li finally reached the front door of the house she had been staying in. She quietly opened the door, hoping that it was late enough for Yuka to be in bed, but that wasn't the case.

"I want to know what's going on." Mei-li heard Yuka say. Intrigued, Mei-li stopped to listen to the conversation.

"As do I, but there is nothing we can do right now." a deep voice replied. Shiki.

"I know. I know. But Mikan, why are her abilities back and how did they disappear in the first place? What did Mei-li do to her?"

"If I knew I would tell you. Do you think it might have something to do with _that_ alice?"

"It might."

"Is it wise to keep her here, Yuka? Mei-li has always been troublesome, even when she was in the academy."

"What else can I do? I don't want to throw her out in the street, that would just be wrong."

"It may be our only chance."

Mei-li listened closely, but the voices stopped. She slid into the room that Yuka was letting her stay in and leaned against the door.

Yuka's question echoed in her head. What had she done to Mikan?

She thought back to the day she had met the small girl.

_It was strange being back in the school grounds, but Mei-li knew she had to continue her little mission. After all, it wasn't everyday that a friend who claimed she hated you comes and asks you to save her daughter. _

_Mei-li crept through the darkness of the forest, hoping to find Yuka's daughter before someone found her. She knew that the academy was aware of her presence, but she didn't know how long it would take them to find her. _

_Taking advantage of the darkness, she began to search the forest floor for the opening of the dungeon that had been created while Mei-li had attended the school. It was where the intruders had been taken and tortured for information. _

_Mei-li shuddered at the memories of her missions, sitting in the dark dungeon with criminals and spies, trying to get information out of the poor souls. _

_As she recalled these thoughts, she stumbled over a strange cavern in the ground. Grinning, she jumped into the cavern and headed easily through the dark tunnels that could take you almost anywhere in the school. _

_She followed her instincts and went straight, heading towards the main dungeon. It was the most horrendous place that Mei-li had ever been, and she hoped that her instinct was wrong._

_Unfortunately, it wasn't. Mei-li opened the door to the dungeon and witnessed a terrifying sight._

_A small girl was laying unconscious on the ground, locks of her hair spread out around her. There was no mistaking who this girl was. She looked exactly like Yuka had when they were children._

_Mei-li hurried forward and examined the girl. Luckily, Mikan's body wasn't too hurt, but Mei-li knew that she would be scared for life if she had to remember what had happened to her down here._

_Closing her eyes, she placed her hand on Mikan's forehead and focused. Yuka had given her an alice stone that dealt with memories, just in case something happened. Mei-li had decided that she would use this to suppress Mikan's memory of these past few days. Unfortunately, she lost control of the alice. _

_Mikan stirred in Mei-li's arms and the woman dropped her on the ground and raced into the shadows._

_Mikan sat up and looked around, shaking. She examined the room, and then her body, tears streaming down her face. The girl crawled to the wall, wincing from pain, and curled into a ball, sobbing._

_It was about this time that a light flooded the room. Mei-li looked at the person, and saw a young boy, about ten walk into the room. He saw Mikan against the wall and stopped. _

_Mikan looked up, made eye contact with the boy and screamed. _

_Mei-li was tempted to help Mikan, but the scene before her was too sweet, if not scary, for her to interfere. _

_It wasn't long before Mikan passed out again, and the boy carried her out of the room._

_That was the last time Mei-li had ever seen Mikan._


	9. Chapter 9

I'm back! I finally got all of the data from my jump drive back so I'm oh so extremely happy. Oh, but I might be putting this on hiatus. School is going to be starting soon and I want to have two and only two stories that I will be working on until they are done. I have a poll on my homepage that will decide which two stories I'm going to work on to finish. I might not take the answers and decide on my own, but I want your guys' opinions anyway.

I know I know, it's a really short chapter, but what do you expect? There was nothing to put here. Anyway, the quality of this chapter is not the best due to the fact that it's late, I'm tired, in pain, and am having horrible writers block... but hey, I'll just revise it later.

So anyway, please enjoy the new installment of Distant Memories and as always, please review. Thanks!

~Sunechirei

* * *

Natsume sat at his table, waiting for school to end. It was homeroom and Narumi had decided that he wanted everyone to have a study day, though no one was allowed to leave the classroom. So naturally, no one would shut up.

The past few days had been frustrating for Natsume. Mikan was still unconscious and no one seemed to know what was going on with her. Hotaru was also on edge. She talked to no one, spending all of her time with her inventions, snapping at everyone who came anywhere near her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ruka asked for the millionth time that day. He knew that something was wrong with Natsume, but the boy refused to admit it. "Natsume..."

"I'm fine, Ruka. There's no need for you to be worrying about me." Natsume muttered, trying to block out the noise with a book. "If you want to bother someone who you think has a problem, go over to Imai. She's worse off than I am." Ruka sighed and grabbed the book out of Natsume's hands.

"I already tried that!" he exclaimed over Natsume's protests. "She just gives me the evil eye and goes back to her work." He flipped through a few pages of the book and shook his head. "And I'm more worried about you. Just look at what you're reading! This is a book that you bought five years ago. Before Sakura even came to this school the first time. There's no way you find this interesting."

"You're right. I don't find it interesting. I'm using it as a tool to block out noise. Will you please give it back?" Natsume held out his hand but Ruka ignored it.

"Let's visit Sakura after class today and don't give me that look. You've been avoiding the hospital like the plague. It's time you went for a visit."

"No."

"Come on! I'm going to drag Imai as well. You guys have been acting like zombies. Sakura wouldn't have wanted this..."

Irritated, Natsume reached up and snatched his book back from Ruka, flipping it open to a random page and started to read again. He really did want to visit Mikan in the hospital, but something told him that it would bad if he went. He also figured that going to see the girl he was in love with in the hospital while she was in a coma was not something that would brighten his day.

Ruka sighed with defeat and sat down next to Natsume with a huff. "You two are really stubborn."

Natsume just rolled his eyes.

* * *

It seemed, to Natsume, like forever before the final bell of the day rang. When it did, Ruka tried once more to get his best friend to go with him to the hospital, but Natsume ignored him and walked out of the room. From behind him, he could hear Ruka trying to talk to Hotaru again, but instead of a response, Natsume heard a wrench hitting the wall near the door and Ruka scurrying out of the room.

Natsume attempted to get away before Ruka saw him, but to no avail.

"Natsume! Natsume wait!" Ruka ran as fast as he could to catch up to Natsume. "I'm not going to try and make you go to the hospital anymore." he panted. "I still think you should go, but you're obviously too stubborn." Natsume snorted and decided to ignore that comment for the time being.

"Don't bother trying to guilt me into going, Ruka. Just go by yourself."

Natsume exited the building and headed towards the dorms. He could tell that Ruka was no longer following him, and that the stubborn boy was probably thinking of a way to get him to stop being an idiot, but Natsume didn't care.

"Fine! I'll be with Sakura if you need me!" Ruka called after Natsume after a moment. Natsume waved back to show he had heard and continued on to the dorms. He walked in silence for a little while, his thoughts wandering back to when he was a child, before he met Mikan. It had been a while since he had thought of his family, his sister Aoi who had been held hostage at the school for almost three years, and his idiot, artist, father who had done everything in his power to keep Natsume from entering the school in the first place.

It had been too long since he had talked to either of them, the last time being thanks to Mikan. Natsume let out a sigh, shaking his head as he was about to enter the dorm building.

"Well hello there."

Natsume jumped, a small fire lighting in his hand when he heard the voice.

"Hey, hey! Don't go lighting me on fire now, I'm just here to say hi." Natsume's eyes darted to the awning above the door and saw Tsubasa sitting there, laughing nervously.

"Oh. It's you. What do you want?" Tsubasa let out a laugh and jumped down.

"Nothing much. What do _you_ want?" he asked. Natsume scowled and pushed past him. "Hey! I was kidding. Maybe. Not really."

"Shut up and leave me alone." Natsume growled. He grabbed the door and yanked it open, only to have it closed forcefully by Tsubasa. "Go away, Shadow."

Tsubasa grinned "I don't think I will. You're too entertaining. Besides, I want to know why you haven't visited Mi-"

"Get the hell away from me! I don't need you and Ruka telling me what to do."

"Sure you don't. Anyway, I should probably warn you, Persona's been visiting Mikan everyday for the past few days. I think he's planning to do something." Natsume froze, his hand still on the door knob.

"What?"

"Woah! Don't go all commando on me! I'm just the messenger." Tsubasa held up his hands and stepped back a few paces. "I just figured I would warn you so that you don't find out too late and end up exploding." He paused for a moment then added, "Literally," when he saw the flame that had appeared near Natsume's hand. The flame extinguished and Natsume entered the building, slamming the door behind him. He could hear Tsubasa trying to tell him something else, but he ignored the senior and began to head to his room.

As Natsume walked through the halls, he tried to wrap his mind around what Tsubasa had just told him. If Persona was really planning something, then Natsume would have to act. Fast.

There was nothing the fire-caster feared more than Mikan being hurt again.

He finally reached his room and was about to open the door when realization hit him.

This may be the only time for him to see Mikan.

"Dammit!" he yelled, banging his fist on the door.

He turned around and dashed through the halls, not caring what people thought of him. He burst out of the front doors of the dorm building, nearly crashing into Ruka.

"Natsume!" Ruka gasped. "What's going on?" Nastume ignored him and continued to run.

It was a long way from the dorm room to the hospital, and Natsume wasn't sure that he would be able to make it, he could already feel the bile rising in his throat as he made his way through woods that led to the hospital. It didn't take as long as he thought, however, and finally he could see the hospital through the trees. He was panting heavily when he got to the front of the building, sweat dripping off his face as he slowed down, eventually coming to a stop. His eyes stared longingly at the front doors.

His mind was telling him to go in.

His body was telling him not to.

A cold hand being placed suddenly on Natsume's shoulder caused him to jump, breaking his train of thought. He turned to see Hotaru standing behind him, a sullen yet angry look on her face.

"So, Hyuuga, you've finally decided to stop being stupid?" she asked icily, pulling her hand away from Natsume's shoulder. "Who would have guessed."

"Speak for yourself, Imai." Natsume retorted. The two glared at each other for a while, a silent argument forming between the two. While in his glare war, Natsume could feel himself calming down. Finally, he sighed. "I just think it's a good idea to see how she is, just in case something happens."

Hotaru raised and eyebrow. "In case what happens?" she asked.

"I have no idea."

Silence fell over the two, as they allowed that last comment to sink in. Natsume figured that Hotaru also guessed that something was being planned, and that her reason for being here was similar to his. He knew, however, that she would never admit to this so he didn't press her for questions.

"Well, I suppose we should go in."

Hotaru nodded, walking quickly past Natsume and into the building. Natsume sighed again and followed her. They walked quietly to Mikan's room, and Natsume was beginning to regret coming here. He knew that nothing good could come out of this, and it took all of is will power not to turn around and storm back out of the hospital, dragging Imai with him.

Hotaru seemed to know what he was thinking and smirked.

"You wouldn't be able to do that, and you know it, Hyuuga." she laughed for the first time that Natsume had ever witnessed.

The closer they got to where Mikan's room was, the more relaxed they seemed to be. They started talking to each other about random things, something they had never done before, and before they knew it, they were in front of Mikan's hospital room.

Hotaru placed her hand on the handle, but hesitated. "You know that us visiting isn't going to change anything, right?" she said quietly, her hand shaking. "Mikan, everything bad seems to happen to her. No matter what we do to try and stop it, she always gets hurt." Natsume turned away, not wishing to see the tears that were beginning to form in Hotaru's eyes, fall. "If she had never met me, none of this would have happened to her. She would probably be back in that village, being all happy with her grandfather."

Natsume tried to say something, but Hotaru continued.

"It's my fault she came here. I'm who became friends with her, the one who left, the one who never came back... the one she followed. How can I go in and face her while I know it's my fault she's in there?"

"Don't get so cocky." Natsume interrupted, "She's the one who came here, both last time and this time. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and open the goddamn door."

Hotaru flinched at Natsume's words, but smiled. "You're lucky Mikan loves you, or I would have kicked your ass years ago." Rolling his eyes, Natsume pushed Hotaru's hand out of the way and opened the door.

He didn't know exactly what he was expecting to see. He had thought about it during his walk to the room, but what was still blurry to him. Maybe he would see Mikan laying so still it seemed she was dead, though the hear monitor besides her would be the indicator that she wasn't. Or maybe he would witness her awake, looking shocked to be in the hospital, but happy to see him.

But the one thing he didn't expect to see, was an empty room.


	10. Chapter 10

So I finally got around to writing this chapter, but I don't really like it... unfortunately, I need to get this story done so that I can work on my other fanfics. Since only five people voted, I decided to take matters of which stories to work on into my own hands so I'm going to finish this story. Only about two more chapters! :)

Anyway, as usual, I would appreciate it if you would review, seeing as the whole point of me posting this story is to get feedback... and I'm thinking of saying that if I'm not going to get any reviews, on any of my stories, I'm going to stop posting. It sounds bratty, but I get over eight hundred viewers a month, and maybe two reviews... it's highly annoying.

But other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's all from Natsume's POV so enjoy :)

~Sunechirei

Oh, and I'm going to start taking requests for one shots, though I may not write them for a while, or post them, but I need to work on certain things in writing, and what better way than taking requests? It can be for pretty much any manga (I will most likely look it up if I don't know what it is) books (same as manga) or Kingdom Hearts. (withnospaces, you can NOT request anything :P )

* * *

"Did we get the wrong room?" Hotaru asked, shoving Natsume aside. Nothing about the room made sense, and both Natsume and Hotaru could tell.

"I don't think so." Natsume said slowly. "This is the place I saw her when I left." He examined the room as he entered, not sure why he got a strange feeling while he was there.

The bed was made, neat, almost like it had never been slept upon, and the floor was empty of everything, even the IV that had been hooked up to Mikan while she slept, wasn't there. There was absolutely nothing in the room that would suggest that someone had been there.

Suddenly, Natsume's thoughts turned to the mission he had accompanied Mikan on, what she was supposed to do, what happened, what Mikan said happened, and all of a sudden, the state of the room made sense.

"I don't think this is the real state of the room." He said slowly.

Behind him, Hotaru snorted. "What are you talking about. Obviously this is the-" Natsume lit a flame in his hand, and Hotaru stopped talking instantly, gasping. "Whoa! What the hell are you doing?" Natsume heard her shuffling around, and he assumed that she was searching for a special fire extinguisher that was the only thing that could put out Natsume's flame. Before she could do anything, however, he lit the bed on fire and watched it burn. Hotaru was still yelling at him, but stopped when the room began to shift, like an illusion.

"This, isn't natural." He said to her, watching with some fascination. She was shocked, standing there without saying anything, and Natsume was interested in her reaction, until the room stopped shifting around, and saw something uncanny;

Blood.

Not very much, but still, it seemed like someone had gotten hurt. Badly. Beside him, Natsume felt Hotaru shudder, and he knew that she was probably feeling sick. He was used to this kind of scene, but Hotaru wasn't.

The sheets on the bed were completely shredded and was hanging off all sides of the now crooked bed. The IV lay on the ground, bent, ripped, and was spilling medicine all over the floor, staining the linoleum a light red. The window by the bed had been broken, leaving shards of glass all over the floor underneath it. Natsume guessed that a fight had taken place here, and that someone got shot, though how the hospital staff hadn't heard the commotion was a mystery.

"What in the world?" Hotaru managed said quietly. "What is going on here?" Natsume felt himself lose control of his emotions, and kicked the bed angrily. He wanted to know what was going on as much as Hotaru did, and there was only so much self control he could muster when it came to Mikan. He turned to leave the room, but decided he should probably answer the fuming, confused girl.

"Isn't it obvious, she's gone." he hissed, stopping before he reached the door, and turned around to face Hotaru. "What does it look like to yo-"

_Baka! Baka! Baka!_

Natsume felt the pressured air crash into his stomach, sending him flying backwards into the wall. Dust from the drywall settle on and around him, and he looked up to glare at Hotaru, but was shocked to see that her arm was shaking. Tears were forming in her eyes, and she yelled, "That's not what I meant and you know that! Why did the room look so neat before? How did you know it wasn't the real state of it? What is going on?" The sound of Natsume crashing into the wall, and Hotaru's screaming seemed to have attracted the attention of the hospital staff, and a nurse came bursting in.

"Children, why are you fighti- Oh my!" Natsume groaned. It was the nurse who was always happy. He really hated that woman. "What ever happened here?" she asked, the dreaded smile still on her face. Neither Natsume nor Hotaru said anything. They only stared at the nurse in utter disbelief, not sure whether or not she was being a jerk, or just had a mental problem. "Well, do you guys know what's going on?" she asked again, looking between them.

"He seems to." Hotaru finally said, pointing to Natsume. He tried to back away from the nurse, but she turned to face him, her eyes wide.

"Well, Mr. Hyuuga?"

Natsume scowled. "I don't know what happened here. You might want inform a doctor about this before another patient goes missing." he hissed. The nurse looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Okay!" she chirped, before dashing out of the room.

"Hyuuga..." Hotaru started, her voice tainted with venom.

"That nurse doesn't need to know anything." Natsume interrupted. Hotaru scowled, but Natsume ignored her and tried to leave again, but this time, Subaru Imai was standing in the doorway, and on his face was a look that could match Hotaru's voice in venom.

"What's going on?" his eyes flashed dangerously between Natsume and Hotaru. "What have you two done with my patient?" Subaru crossed his arms, waiting for the stunned teenagers to speak. Finally Hotaru did.

"What have we done? Are you an idiot? We are the ones who found the room like this. If anything, we should be asking you what you've done. Mikan is my best friend. I would never hurt her."

She pushed past Subaru and stormed out of the room, leaving a shocked doctor with Natsume.

* * *

"Is there something you're not telling us, Mr. Hyuuga?"

Natsume looked away from the elementary headmaster, not wanting to tell him anything that he knew about the alice that Mikan had stolen. He knew that it was somehow related to what had happened to Mikan, and he had a feeling that if the Headmaster knew this, bad things would start to happen.

"Mr. Hyuuga?" the small boy in front of Natsume called out, bringing Natsume back to reality. "If you know something about Ms. Sakura's disappearance and you aren't telling me, you won't be very happy later." Natsume looked back at the boy behind the desk.

"I don't know anything about what happened in that room, or where Mikan is. Can I go now?" The irritation in his voice was unmistakable. The headmaster smiled and nodded. "Thank you." Natsume said sarcastically. Persona, who was standing behind him, let out a low growl of warning, but Natsume ignored it and walked out of the room without paying any respect to the Headmaster.

"But that's not all there is to this, and you know that."

Natsume stopped in his tracks when the headmaster said this and turned around. He said nothing, not sure where the headmaster was going with this.

"I heard from Persona that you went with Ms. Sakura on her last mission, but the mission ended up being a failure. Now, do you know what Ms. Sakura was there to get?" Natsume shook his head and the headmaster continued, "She was there to get a special alice, one that can distort space, make people believe that the scene before them is different than what is really there. I think she didn't fail, that she has the alice, and she escaped. Now, let me ask you again. Is there something you aren't telling us, Mr. Hyuuga?"

Natsume stood there, shocked. He had guessed that Mikan had used that alice to mask the room, to keep people from realizing that she was gone, which meant that she had left on purpose. However, he didn't want the headmaster to know that this was what he thought.

"I know nothing about that, or where Mikan could be." Natsume lied, turning around again and leaving this time. He closed the door behind him, hoping that no one could tell that he really did know something.

Looking around, Natsume made sure that no one was in the hallway before he dashed out of the building, heading towards Bear's cabin in the woods. He figured that Tsubasa was going to be there and he needed to talk to him. As he neared the clearing where the cabin was, he could hear chattering, and when he finally got there, he saw Tsubasa, Ruka, and Hotaru sitting at the small table talking.

The three looked over at him. "There you are, Natsume." Ruka said, standing up. "We were wondering when you would arrive."

Natsume took a step back, confused. "What do yo mean? Why are you guys here?" He asked. Hotaru rolled her eyes.

"You're extremely predictable, Hyuuga. All of us figured that you would come here to find Badly-"

"Tsubasa!"

"-and so we came here to make sure you didn't do anything stupid." she finished, throwing a glare at Tsubasa.

Natsume gave them a disbelieving look. "Are you serious."

"Yes. We also want to help you find Sakura." Ruka said. "That is what you're planning to do, right?" Natsume nodded and sat down. "Well then, I guess we should figure out what to do."

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ruka whined, as he helped Natsume gather items from the storage the school gave to Hotaru when she brought in over thirty million yen from one of her experiments. It was filled with creations that she had been working on for the past four years, most covered in dust from being untouched, and others beaten and worn from all of the use that they had been put through.

Natsume rolled his eyes and pulled out the list that Hotaru had made for him and Ruka. "No. I don't think this is a good idea. But Imai does and she's usually right about things like this." He glanced over the list quickly and grabbed something off of one of the shelves. "We're just going to have to trust her."

Ruka laughed at this, receiving a glare from Natsume. "What," he said with a smile, "I think it's funny that you're actually admitting Hotaru can be right."

"Yeah well this involves- wait, _Hotaru_?" He gave his friend a incredulous look and Ruka rolled his eyes.

"It's not important right now. I'll explain later. Have you found everything." the two boys looked at the pile of weapons and communication devices that reached Natsume's waist.

Natsume nodded. "Yeah. But seriously-"

"Drop it, Natsume." Ruka picked up the bag they had brought and began to shovel what they had gathered into it, despite the protests from Natsume telling him to be careful. "Let's go." The two boys grabbed the bag once it was full and lugged it outside, nearly running into Hotaru.

She looked at the bag with one eyebrow raised. "You obviously don't realize how dangerous some of these things are, but that doesn't matter right now. Did you get everything I asked for?" Ruka nodded and Hotaru reached out to grab the bag from him. "Good, let's go."

Turning swiftly, she threw the bag over her shoulder and stalked off towards Bear's cabin. Ruka and Natsume exchanged glances, shrugged, and followed her, not sure how she was able to carry the heavy bag.

They walked in silence, watching around nervously for anyone who could be hiding in the dark, ominous shadows that were cast by the moonlight. Natsume felt like there was someone watching him, that every sound was a spy sent by Persona or the headmaster, but they met no one on their way.

Finally, they reached the clearing where Bear's cabin was located and saw Tsubasa sitting at the table, holding a flashlight. He smiled when he saw them and waved, letting out a 'yo' as a greeting.

"I take it you guys got what we need?"

"More or less." Hotaru glared at the boys, though Natsume had no idea why. "Are you ready.

"Yep. Let's do this."

Hotaru opened the bag and began distributing communication devices, explaining what they were going to do. "Hopefully, this won't be too hard. Hyuuga thinks he knows where Mikan might be, so you two," she pointed at Ruka and Tsubasa, "need to make sure he gets there okay. Use your alices if you need to, and don't get caught. We don't want a repeat of four years ago, do we?" she eyed the three boys, and Natsume nodded.

"No. No we don't." He said. Hotaru's eyes softened when she heard this, and she reached down and grabbed something out of the bag.

"Let's go." she said.

* * *

Natsume crept through the forest alone, trying as hard as he could not to make much noise in case someone was watching for him. In his ear was a communication devise that was currently blaring with Hotaru's voice.

_"Are you sure you know what you're doing? Mikan could be anywhere and you wanted to go off, alone, into the forest, at night, only agreeing to wear an earpiece. I ask again, are you mental?" _Hotaru ranted. Natsume imagined her sitting on the roof of the dorm room, watching him, Ruka, and Tsubasa with an invention of hers.

"Shut up." Natsume muttered to himself.

_"Did you just tell me to shut up." _

Natsume stopped in is tracks, his heading swiveling around, confused. "Um... no." he said slowly, moving forwards again.

_"I heard you. This thing can pick up even the slightest sound you make, and let me warn you now, Hyuuga; if you tell me to shut up again, I'm not going to be very happy." _

Natsume breathed in. "I don't really care."

_"Ha! Yeah right. You're afraid of me. Admit it." _

"And if I refuse?"

_"Do you want my he- whoa!" _

"Imai? Hey, Imai? What's going on?"

_"It's Ruka. I just saw him being dragged off by some teacher I didn't recognize. It must have been an ele-"_

"He what!" Natsume yelled.

_"Quiet! They might hear you!"_

Just as Hotaru said this, a bullet rang through the forest, flying just past Natsume's ear. His head spun around and a bright light temporarily blinded him.

"Don't let him get away!" Natsume heard this and he turned quickly, stumbling forward. Behind him he could hear the men yelling and he kept on running, not quite sure where he was going or why. He knew that he had to find the dungeon where he had found Mikan four years ago, but he didn't quite know where that was, and with the men chasing him, it would be harder to find it, especially in the dark.

After a while of running, the voices began to get quieter, and Natsume guessed that he was no longer being chased. Slowing down, he glanced around him, not sure where he was, and tried to speak to Hotaru again.

"Oi, Imai. What's going on now?" He asked, trying hard to stay quiet. Static greeted him. "Imai!" He hissed, louder this time. "This isn't funny, where are you?" Still no answer, only static.

A sharp pain in his chest kept Natsume from trying to talk to Hotaru again. He was breathing heavily, too heavily, and a bloody taste was lingering in the back of his throat, causing Natsume to feel sick. He had been running too much without any kind of medicine, something he knew he shouldn't be doing. He slumped against the nearest tree, his vision going blurry, and his hand shot up to his neck, searching for the alice stone that his mother had given him all those years ago.

It wasn't there.

Bark cut through his uniform shirt, scratching his arms into a bloody mess as he slid down the side of the tree, feeling his conscience slipping away from him. He had to find Mikan. He knew where she was, he had to find her, he had to save her from all the bad things that could happen to her.

But none of that would happen if he passed out. Yet he couldn't control his body, and he felt himself falling into state of unconsciousness.

Suddenly, a warm hand touched his face, and he began to feel better. He no longer needed to gasp for air, and the bloody taste in his throat was gone. When he finally realized that someone was near him, he jumped away, feeling as though he were completely healthy again. A fire lit in his hand and he was prepared to attack the person, when they called out;

"Wait! I know where Sakura is!"

Natsume froze, his vision clearing up completely. In front of him was a young woman with silver hair that hung down to her waist, and green eyes that peered eerily at Natsume.

"What did you just say?" He asked.

"Sakura... um... Mikan. I know where she is. You're Natsume Hyuuga, right?" Natsume nodded. "I should have guessed. You look just like your mother, you know." As surprised as he was by that last sentence, he ignored it and asked where Mikan was. "Calm down. They're still searching for you. And put that flame away. I just healed you. I don't want to have to hurt you."

"Where is Mikan?"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Jeez you're impatient. Come with me and I'll show you where she is. Though you probably already know. You're the one who found her all those years ago, right?" Natsume nodded slowly, not sure whether or not to trust the woman. She seemed to be alright, but then again, so did most of the people who worked for the academy.

"Take me to where Mikan is, and don't even think about using your alice. I have a feeling you were the one who made the hospital room into a mess, so I'm not going to put my fire out until I see Mikan, safe."

The two watched each other for a time, waiting for someone to say something. Finally, the woman sighed. "Just like your mother... I'm Mei-li, by the way."

"I don't care. Show me where Mikan is."

"Kids these days. She's this way."

Natsume followed Mei-li cautiously through the forest, towards a part that all of the students at the school avoided. This was because a crazy high school boy decided to go there, despite the warnings, but went missing for two weeks, and when he finally stumbled out of the forest, he was crazy, muttering about torture and dangerous people. But Natsume still followed her, hoping that she really wasn't going to hurt him.

Neither of them spoke the entire time, spreading an eerie silence amongst them, but finally, Mei-li stopped. Leaning over, she brushed away some dirt, revealing a metallic trap door with markings that Natsume didn't understand.

"She's down here."

Natsume grunted, allowed the flame to disappear, and leaned down to open the door. It creaked as he opened it, telling Natsume that the door hadn't been used in years, and he prepared himself to jump down it when Mei-li grabbed his arm.

"I'm warning you now, what's down there, the story behind what happened to that girl, it's not something you really want to hear. Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked, a serious look in her eye. Natsume yanked his arm away.

"I don't know who you are, what connection you have with me and Mikan, but this has _nothing_ to do with you, so bug off." Without waiting for a reply, he slipped down the hatch into a flooding darkness. He lit another flame, feeling somewhat weak again, and headed down the corridors, a nostalgic feeling running through his body. It was just like four years ago, just like the time when he discovered just what the academy was capable of when they wanted some.

His footsteps echoed off of the walls, sending shivers down his spine as he walked down a hallway. It wasn't long before he came to a door, just like four years ago, and he reached forward to open it.

It moved silently, and a gush of wind greeted him, blowing out his flame, though it didn't matter. The room was lit, and in the center was Mikan, standing with her back to the door, in her hospital attire.

She turned slowly, her long brown hair swishing slightly with the movement, and Natsume saw that her eyes were stained red.

"Natsume," she whispered. "I'm so sorry.


	11. Chapter 11

Wow... am I really done with Distant Memories? Has it really been a year and a half since I started this story, and now, I have finally finished it? Holy crap.

Well, I'm going to finish revising the story (including this chapter) but it's done. It's finally done. Now I can work on my other stories without the need to finish this one. I feel so empty inside!

This chapter is very... strange... I don't even know what to think of it... It's two thirty in the morning so I'm exhausted but it's done.

Anyway, please excuse all the mistakes and what not you may find, I'm tired and this will be revised eventually, but please enjoy, review, and thank you for sticking with me as I wrote this story. Thank you everyone!

~Sunechirei

* * *

Mikan

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know..." Mikan trailed off, looking at the ground. There was so much she had learned, so much she wanted to tell him, yet she was hesitant. "If I had known. I wouldn't have been so mean. Such a jerk. Why didn't you tell me?" tears filled her eyes once more, despite her efforts to stop them from coming.

Quick, echoing footsteps filled the room, and before Mikan could react to them, warm arms wrapped around her body, pulling her close to Natsume.

"I don't care. You're safe. That's all that matters," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. Relief flooded through her, and a sob escaped her lips as she buried her face in Natsume's chest.

Mikan couldn't help but cry as Natsume's arms were wrapped around her. She felt safe, at home, and a feeling she hadn't felt for four years.

Love.

It was a feeling that she had been wishing for, like all other girls, but she hadn't been aware that that feeling already existed inside her, tucked away in the back of her mind, waiting for the trigger that would bring back her memories. Pure joy was all Mikan knew at the moment, her heart fluttering, butterflies dancing in her stomach. It was a nice feeling, one that she wished she could have forever, but deep inside, Mikan knew that it couldn't last.

She pushed away from Natsume after a while, her hands trembling from both fear and excitement. Her eyes raised to meet his, and she knew at that point she he wanted to know everything.

"Must you know?" she whispered, looking at her feet. Natsume raised her head and nodded, determination flaring in his eyes. "Why?"

"Because nothing is making any sense. What happened to you four years ago, why your alices and memories disappeared, what happened in that hospital room, why you covered it up with that alice you stole. I want to know, need to know," his voice was low and comforting, and it made Mikan want to melt into his arms again, but she stepped away from him.

"Fine. I guess you should know. You're the one who saved me all those years ago, after all." She began to pace around the room, her eyes traveling from one crevice to another. She could feel Natsume's crimson eyes following her around the room, waiting for her to speak again, but she still wasn't sure that she wanted him to know.

"You know what? I think we should leave this place. Leave the academy. Mei-li told me about a way out that no one else knows about. We can leave this place and never come back, and then no one can bother us again." Mikan turned to face Natsume.

"What about Ruka and Imai?" he asked after a moments silence. Mikan froze.

She closed her eyes, her hands folding together behind her. The joy of seeing Natsume again had caused her to completely forget about her best friend and Ruka, even though she remembered them quite clearly now.

"Mikan, we can't leave."

"Why not? Why can't we just go now? The academy will catch us if we don't go now, and who knows what they'll do to us now. Especially after what I did-" Mikan's voice got caught in her throat as she fell to her knees, the cold floor staining her hospital gown a dark brown.

Natsume was at her side in an instant. "What do you mean? What did you do?" he asked, his voice full of concern. "Does it have something to do with the state of that hospital room?" Nodding, Mikan tried to stand up, but flashes of what happened in that room ran through her head, and she collapsed again. "I can't wait any longer. What the hell happened in that room?"

A smile littered Mikan's face, and she let out a small laugh. "Fine. I'll tell you. I'll start at the beginning."

"The beginning? The beginning of what?"

"How all of this started. When I was attacked four years ago by someone we trusted. You remember the student body president who replaced Sakurano, right?"

She glanced up at Natsume, her eyes cold. "Yes." He managed to get out, obviously shocked by Mikan's sudden change in attitude. Mikan felt strange, her body was cold, yet hot at the same time, and it was almost as though there were something taking over her body, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do at that moment was tell Natsume everything.

"He found me, after we got separated. I thought he was going to help me, but instead he drugged me and brought me here. When I woke up, the only thing I could see was darkness, seeing as there was a blindfold over my eyes, but I felt pain. Excruciating pain, and I could feel the cold floor underneath me, and the dirt getting into the cuts that I had obtained, though how is something I don't know. Suddenly, the blindfold was ripped off of my face, and I saw Persona standing there, but he seemed a bit different than before. Behind him was the Elementary headmaster, that bastard laughed when he saw me watching him fearfully and explained to me that his alice seemed to have a hidden ability; the ability to make clones of others."

Mikan could tell that Natsume was completely shocked by what she was telling him, but he said nothing to her in return. Clenching her fists, she lifted one of them up to her chest, feeling a sharp pain run through her body, and all of a sudden her mood changed. She was no longer angry, but sad. Tears ran down her face again as she continued her story.

"He told me, he told me that the real Persona was dead, not that it mattered. In the end he had tried to help us, but his alice had killed him in the end. The man who has been torturing you for the past four years isn't the same man who brought you and Ruka here. He doesn't even know who my father is, or why he needs to do the things he does. He doesn't even have an alice. Just a puppet. That's all he is, and yet we're all so afraid of him." Mikan began to laugh hysterically, though she didn't know why. Her emotions were running wild, one taking over her for a while, then another. It was very confusing.

"Persona is..." Natsume's voice was shaking. "All these years I hated him because of how he treated us, even though in his past he was treated horribly, and yet it isn't really Persona." The laughter stopped suddenly, and Mikan's managed to stand finally. "Mikan, what's going on with you?"

"Pain. That's all I really remember after that. I also remember them cutting my hair. Those people... I screamed at them to stop, my thoughts on that night by the lake when you told me to leave my hair down, but they didn't. Then there was nothing. After that I can only remember waking up in that dark room, then you entered."

"Then how did you lose your memory?"

"That woman you met. Mei-li. She found me before you did, and suppressed my memory. She only meant to make me forget about the past two weeks, but instead I forgot about everything in my life. My alices though, that I don't know, and I have a feeling they were never gone, but my uncle lied and said I didn't have them anymore."

Natsume stood up and walked over to Mikan. "Who is she? Mei-li. She seems to know who my mother was, and why did she take your memory?"

"She didn't explain it to you? Mei-li used to go to this school. She was an underclassmen of our moms. Also, she was an interrogator for the Elementary headmaster. That's what this place is. A series of under ground tunnels and rooms where interrogations could be held in secret. Horrible, isn't it." She paused for an instant, waiting to see if Natsume was going to say something, but he didn't so she continued her story, "Now, what happened after I left the school doesn't really seem to be important, so I'll just skip to what happened after you ran off on the night of the dance.

"My vision started to get very blurry, and I had thoughts running through my head that weren't mine, yet they were mine. I was very confused to say the least. Then, the next thing I knew, I remembered everything, and was being shaken awake by a woman I didn't recognize. Mei-li. She told me it was urgent that I come with her, as the leader of the organization where I got the alice from was planning to do something to me, but I refused to go with her. But that changed when some people suddenly appeared in my room and threatened to kill me. It took a while, and I was surprised that no one in the hospital heard what was going on, but Mei-li managed to push them back. The room was a mess, however, so I used the alice and made the room look nice and neat, and I tried to make myself appear as well, but it didn't work. It seems that this alice is completely useless if you want to show a person or animal. But anyway, we left after that because Mei-li feared that those people would come back for the alice again. She brought me here, explained a few things, then left saying that you would probably be coming soon."

* * *

Natsume

Mikan finished her story, letting out a deep sigh. Natsume watched her, trying to wrap his mind around everything she had just told him. Almost everything she'd said was strange, but it made sense, and he was glad it did. His attention was brought back to the real world when Mikan turned suddenly, her hospital gown floating slightly from the movement, her eyes meeting his expectantly.

He didn't know what to say still, so he didn't say anything, and instead, reached out slowly, grabbing Mikan's arm, and pulled her in closer, kissing her. She tensed slightly, but relaxed after a moment. This kiss was longer than the one at the dance, and it was definitely more romantic, yet it was still sad. Finally, Natsume pulled away, but not too much as he pulled Mikan into a tight hug.

"Natsume? Why have-"

"I'm the one who should apologize, for dragging you into the madness of this school. If I hadn't tried to run away that day, you probably wouldn't have been brought into this school, and if you hadn't associated with me, they wouldn't have been so cruel to you."

Mikan laughed, her hands moving to Natsume's back. "Naru knew I was an alice before you showed up, idiot. I would have attended here anyway."

"So, I guess I should blame Hotaru then? You followed here, after all."

"Maybe, but even if I had the change to go back in time and change anything, I wouldn't. I'm happy I came here, met you, met Ruka, and all of my other friends, even if it led to me being tortured."

Natsume squeezed Mikan tighter. "I'm glad."

The two stayed holding each other for a while, but a loud crash outside the room broke them apart.

Mei-li was standing in the doorway of the room, her shoulders moving up and down as she panted heavily, leaning against the door. "You two, stay here. Got it! You aren't allowed to come out, or you will be killed."

"Wait! What's going on?" Mikan asked before Mei-li could walk away.

"They came back, but the school is here as well. Bad things are happening."

"I'll help you then!" Natsume's heart sunk when he heard Mikan say these words, and he tried to tell her not to be an idiot, but the heavy metal door closed before he could say anything. "Hey! Mei-li?" Mikan ran over to the door, and tried to open it, but she failed.

Natsume watched her struggles, not sure if he should try and help her or not. In the end, he did nothing, and she eventually gave up, coming back to his side.

"Why is it that I can never do anything?" She muttered, slumping down against the wall. Natsume sat next to her.

"What do you mean by that? You've done a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"You saved me, didn't you?"

Mikan leaned her head against the wall, her eyes closed tightly, a smile playing on her lips. "Yeah, I guess."

* * *

_"Earth to Hyuuga. Hello? Wake up!" _

Natsume jolted awake, his hand jumping to his ear as Hotaru's blaring voice blasted in his ear.

"What's going on?" he asked groggily, feeling Mikan stir next to him.

_"You missed all the fun out here. Huge battle. Lots of people got hurt. But Nogi and I are both fine. What about you and Mikan. You _did_ find Mikan, right? If you didn't you do realize I'm going to have to castrate you."_

"Imai? What are talking about?"

_"Mikan! Where is Mikan?"_

"She's right here, next to me. She remembers everything and-"

The door to the room slowly opened, revealing two figures, Hotaru and Ruka. Beside him, Mikan slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. She looked from Natsume to the door, and jumped to her feet.

"Hotaru!" She exclaimed, running at her best friend, hugging her. Hotaru's eyes got wide, surprised at the familiarity of what was happening.

"Mikan..."

"I remember everything now! I don't know how, or why, but I do. I'm so happy to see you're alright. You too, Ruka." There were tears in her eyes, but this time, they were tears of joy. "I'm sorry about the way I acted. I couldn't even imagine doing that now."

Natsume stood slowly, rubbing the back of his head which was sore from leaning against a wall all night. Ruka walked over to him, a smile on his face.

"She's back." He whispered and Natsume smiled.

"Yeah, she is."

After five years, four of which they had no contact, Mikan was finally back to her normal self, and Natsume could feel that the academy would start to change again. What she started five years ago, Mikan could finish, and this time, Natsume wouldn't make the mistake of hating her for a while.

Mikan was back, and everything would turn out alright.

* * *

Cheesy ending, I know... anyway, thanks again for reading my story, even though it's not that good, and I'm sorry if this ending seems kinda abrupt... it'll be better if I ever get around to revising it... Thanks again (again) and I hoped you enjoyed Distant Memories!


	12. Epilogue

Okay, now it's done. Done for good. I don't even think I'm going to revise the rest of this... I'm done with it. Done. So please enjoy and I'm sorry it's so crappy...

Thanks for sticking with me this whole time :)

~Sunechirei

* * *

"Seriously Mikan? You're going to wear your uniform to graduation? I thought they got rid of that rule two years ago."

Mikan flushed pink and turned to face her boyfriend. He was leaning against the door to her room, a smirk on his face. His crimson eyes seemed to be laughing at her, with love of course, but still laughing. Normally, Mikan would have just stuck out her tongue, but this time she had forgotten that the rule had been lifted. Narumi could be very convincing as a Headmaster.

"Shut up," she muttered, "I just feel like wearing the uniform one last time."

She was lying through her teeth of course, and it was obvious that Natsume knew that, but he just laughed. Mikan smiled at how carefree the guy could be, especially after everything that had happened to them.

While Natsume and she were stuck in the room three years ago, many things had happened above ground, including the disappearance of the Elementary Headmaster. No one knows what had occurred in his office, but when a few of the students who had helped in the rebellion finally managed to break in, he wasn't there, and no one has heard from him since. Narumi took over the elementary division, much to Jino's distaste, and after that, things in the school seemed to settle down a lot. The dangerous class was integrated with the other abilities classes, and the missions stopped. After the missions stopped, Natsume's health improved greatly, and nothing bad seemed to be happening to anyone in the school.

It was weird to Mikan. Everything had worked out too well, and as nice as it was, it was also unnerving. At any moment it seemed like things could come crashing down.

"Mikan? Hello? I thought you were excited for today," Natsume's warm voice carried through Mikan's thoughts, bringing her back to reality. She turned to face him and was surprised that he was right next to her. "What's wrong this time?"

"Nothing." Mikan smiled at her boyfriend before leaning up and kissing him lightly. "But you know, I kind of wish that I knew what happened when we were in that dungeon. Things seemed to be resolved rather quickly..."

"It's not important, is it? We're all safe, and everything has turned out for the best, right?"

"I guess."

"So, what are you going to do when you graduate?" Natsume had been asking her this for a long time, but she really didn't have an answer for him.

"I think... I think I'm going to follow Hotaru to America. See what it's like there." Natsume looked down at her sadly, then wrapped his arms around her encouragingly.

"If that's what you want..."

"Are you not okay with it?"

"I don't care. I'll follow you where ever you want to go." Natsume kissed her again, more passionately this time, but she pulled away before he got to far.

"Alright. Let's go."

She pulled him away from the bed and towards the door, and the two prepared themselves for what ever nonsense might plague them during their last day at Gakuen Alice. But they were glad to be leaving that place, even though it was the place they met, and fell in love. It held too many bad memories for them, and they began to hope that since they were leaving this place, for good this time, those memories would become distant.

Distant memories.


End file.
